Google DeepMind’s latest hire focuses on CEO Demis Hassabis’ goal of building ‘brain’ for humanoid robots

Google’s AI division, DeepMind, has hired former Boston Dynamics executive Aaron Saunders as its vice president of hardware engineering. The latest hiring suggests a significant move into robotics. Saunders, who was the chief technology officer at Boston Dynamics for 22 years, oversaw the development of four-legged and humanoid machines. Saunders played an essential part in developing Boston Dynamics’ well-known robots, including the backflipping Atlas and the dog-like Spot. He began leading engineering teams as VP in 2018 and became CTO in 2021, where he was responsible for managing the company’s technical development. This hire is viewed as central to DeepMind’s plan to integrate the Gemini AI model into robots.