By Alistair Barr
Andy Rubin, co-founder and former leader of Google Inc.'s
Android mobile business and the current head of its nascent
robotics effort, is leaving the Internet giant, the company said
Thursday.
Mr. Rubin is starting an incubator for startups interested in
building technology hardware products.
A Google spokesman said the company remains committed to
robotics and will continue investing in the sector.
James Kuffner, a research scientist at Google and a member of
the robotics group, will replace Mr. Rubin as head of the unit.
Google acquired Android in 2005 and Mr. Rubin helped build it
into the world's most-popular mobile operating system. He switched
from that role to lead a series of robotics acquisitions for Google
in 2013.
"I want to wish Andy all the best with what's next," Google CEO
Larry Page said in a statement. "With Android he created something
truly remarkable-- with a billion-plus happy users. Thank you."
Mr. Rubin provided crucial leadership and vision that helped
Google keep up with Apple Inc. as smartphones became the go-to
computing device for most people around the world. He was known for
keeping his Android team separate from the rest of the company and
its employees for years. For a time, the Android group had its own
lunchroom on the Google campus.
Mr. Rubin is an entrepreneurial spirit who likes to run his own
show and was facing constraints on his activities at Google, a
person familiar with the executive and Google said. A Google
spokesman declined to comment on why Mr. Rubin left.
Mr. Rubin said he "didn't really have any issues with
independence" at Google and left because he wanted to do something
new on his own.
"Larry enabled the robotic effort to run exactly the way I
wanted it to, and we made great progress in our first year," he
wrote in an email to The Wall Street Journal.
Google executive Sundar Pichai took over Android from Mr. Rubin
in early 2013. Mr. Pichai is considered a more open, collaborative
executive more suited to the task of keeping Android's various
partners, including handset makers and wireless-network operators,
in the fold.
Mr. Rubin has had a lifelong obsession with robots, and when he
stepped down from Android, Mr. Page allowed him to pursue that
dream. By late 2013, Mr. Rubin had overseen Google's acquisitions
of several robotics companies, including Boston Dynamics, Schaft
and Meka Robotics.
Boston Dynamics is best known for its four-legged robot called
BigDog which can carry heavy loads across uneven terrain and Atlas,
a humanoid robot that was part of the robotics challenge run by the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, part of the U.S.
Department of Defense.
Japan-based Schaft developed a two-legged, five-foot, five-inch
tall robot capable of climbing steep steps unaided. It won the last
DARPA Robotics challenge in late 2013.
Google's entrance into the robotics field has sparked widespread
speculation about the company's intentions for bringing more
automation to industries including manufacturing and
automobiles.
Mr. Rubin's departure is a blow to Google's robotics efforts.
However, Mr. Kuffner is experienced in the sector, having worked on
human-like robot technology for over two decades, including seven
years at Carnegie Mellon University and five years on Google's
self-driving car project.
"It's surprising and sounds pretty unplanned," said Scott
Strawn, an analyst at research firm IDC. "If it was voluntary on
Mr. Rubin's part, you would think he would see part of the robotics
project through to completion to have something to show publicly
before leaving."
Write to Alistair Barr at alistair.barr@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires