As Hyundai Motor Group announces its acquisition of robot company Boston Dynamics, attention is on how the automotive giant will unfold its robot business.
Hyundai Motor Group said the acquisition will help the conglomerate take an early lead in forthcoming competition between robot makers and quickly grow its robot business from a promising prospect to a major revenue source in the near future.
Hyundai Motor Group announced on Friday it agreed to acquire a controlling 80 percent stake in Boston Dynamics from SoftBank Group. SoftBank will hold the remaining 20 percent and a put option to sell the remainder in the future. The total value of the deal is estimated to reach $880 million.
This is the first M&A case of the group since Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun took the current post in October.
The move came after Chung said in October last year that the half of the group’s future portfolio will be comprised of cars, followed by air taxis with 30 percent and robotics with 20 percent.
After the remark, the group has made several investments in cars and air taxis but kept a low profile in investing into robotics. Following the acquisition of Boston Dynamics, the group’s robotics business is anticipated to pick up momentum too.
The deal, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, is expected to be completed by June 2021.
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| Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot Atlas / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group |
From logistics to humanoids
According to the group, Sunday, the group will first make its foray into the logistics robot market, which is anticipated to have the highest short-term demand.
Boston Dynamics now has logistics robots including Pick and Handle. Pick is a deep-learning-based picking system using high-resolution sensors to accurately locate a wide variety of boxes in challenging environments.
While Pick is a stationary robot, Handle is a mobile robot. Unlike general logistics robots moving boxes full of pallets, Handle is capable of moving respective boxes, allowing it to use to build a pallet mixed with boxes from different inventories.
After the acquisition, Boston Dynamics will focus on upgrading 3D sensing and robot arm technologies suited for mobile robots. Along with wearable robots, mobile robots will allow clients to better automate their logistics process, the group said.
Following logistics robots will be mobility robots. In 2015, Boston Dynamics has unveiled its four-legged robot Spot, which climbs stairs and traverses rough terrain to inspect dangerous sites or collect data safely.
Hyundai Motor has already showcased its walking vehicle concept, called Hyundai Elevate, during last year’s Consumer Electronics Show. The acquisition of Boston Dynamics is anticipated to help the group to realize the concept.
Hyundai Motor Group said its ultimate goal is developing humanoid robots. Unlike robots that are confined to a certain service, the group expects humanoid robots will be capable of a variety of services ranging from household chores to assistance to astronauts.
“To build a humanoid, technologies for autonomous driving, robot arms, sensing and quadrupedal and bipedal walking are each required,” a Hyundai Motor Group official said. “In order to make a foray into robotics, the group chose to acquire a company that has all of those technologies.”
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| Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun |
Hyundai serious about robots
In acquiring Boston Dynamics, Hyundai Motor Group participated in the deal as four investors. Hyundai Motor Company will hold a 30 percent stake in Boston Dynamics, followed by component unit Hyundai Mobis with 20 percent, logistics unit Hyundai Glovis with 10 percent, and Chairman Chung will own 20 percent.
As Chung personally owns the stake, it is interpreted that the group is serious about robotics and Chung will take greater responsibility in running the robotics unit. Also, this defeats previous doubts that the robotics business may end up going nowhere.
According to a study from the International Federation of Robotics, the global industrial robot market is growing by 14 percent annually, and more than 630,000 industrial robots will be marketed next year. Hyundai Motor Group also expects the global robotics market will grow 32 percent annually to 177.2 billion won by 2025.
“For Hyundai to achieve its robotics goal, existing human resources at Boston Dynamics need to stay, thus investors have to watch the post-merger integration process,” Hana Financial Investment analyst Song Sun-Jae said. “Given SoftBank has a put option and Chung has personally invested into Boston Dynamics, it is interpreted that they are expecting an improvement in the value of the company.”
