The problem with Google's robotics acquisitions was that they fired Andy Rubin less than a year after he made them. They floundered after that.
It's clear that Google's management simply didn't have the patience to continue putting money into hardware development before the software was ready. They forced premature commercialization on BD and then dumped them on SoftBank. Strong top-level executive support could have changed that. I wonder what Google robotics could have been.
Yeah, having been there during Andy's firing I can vouch that the thunderdome era of replicant actually intensified after he left (and lasted until boston was sold off and the rest of us moved into X) but nuance is hard and less funny and I did warn folks that the history is mostly wrong... ;)
Worth remembering he was fired due to sexual harassment[0]. While Google did the right thing in firing him, they deserve far more criticism for the cover ups. Both of which are frankly unacceptable
Given the choice between having a sexual harasser on staff, or missing out on a billion dollars of profit, every company in the world will choose to keep the sexual harasser and the profit, so that can't be the only reason.
Some are, but it's usually based on how much the CEO plays golf with them, not their talent. But in exceptional cases, like an acquihire, it might be. There's literally no point doing an acquihire and then firing the people you acquihired. That's just burning money.
It's clear that Google's management simply didn't have the patience to continue putting money into hardware development before the software was ready. They forced premature commercialization on BD and then dumped them on SoftBank. Strong top-level executive support could have changed that. I wonder what Google robotics could have been.