Softbank Makes A $5.4 Billion Bet On Ai Robots

Remember Pepper, nan overhyped “emotional robot” that flopped hard a fewer years ago? Well, 1 of its makers, SoftBank, is getting backmost into nan bot business pinch a $5.4 cardinal acquisition of ABB’s robotics division.

The deal, which still needs nan greenish ray from regulators, bolsters nan Japanese group’s manus successful robotics, which includes stakes successful companies for illustration Skild, AutoStore Holdings, and Agile Robots. 

While SoftBank is nary alien to robotics, nan section has go a caller privilege for nan company. “SoftBank’s adjacent frontier is Physical AI,” laminitis Masayoshi Son said, promising a “groundbreaking improvement that will propel humanity forward.”  

Robots are 1 of 4 strategical areas SoftBank is investing heavy successful to recognize Son’s imagination of dominating nan AI manufacture and processing ace intelligent AI. It is besides pouring money into chips, information centers, and energy, arsenic good arsenic companies astatine nan “forefront of generative AI.”