Google Reunites With Intrinsic to Scale Robot AI

A robotics company born from Google's experimental lab is coming home with a bold mission: making smart robots as easy to program as building a website.

Intrinsic, which launched from Google's parent company Alphabet five years ago, is rejoining Google to supercharge its work bringing artificial intelligence to factory floors. The startup has spent years building tools that let manufacturers create robot applications without needing advanced programming skills or hundreds of coding hours.

At the heart of Intrinsic's work is Flowstate, a web-based platform that lets users design robot tasks through simple building blocks instead of complex code. Think of it like using pre-made Lego pieces instead of carving each brick from scratch. With just a few clicks, factory workers can teach robots to identify parts, generate efficient movements, or handle delicate components using sensors.

The reunion means Intrinsic will now tap into Google's advanced Gemini AI models and work closely with Google DeepMind, the research lab pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence. CEO Wendy Tan White will continue leading the team, which keeps all its current leadership and partnerships intact.

Those partnerships include a joint venture with electronics giant Foxconn to build AI-driven smart factories, combining Intrinsic's robot platform with Foxconn's manufacturing know-how. That work will continue and expand under the new arrangement.

The Ripple Effect

This move signals something bigger than one company changing hands. It represents a shift toward democratizing robotics, opening advanced manufacturing capabilities to businesses that couldn't previously afford the expertise or time.

Intrinsic built its platform to work with any software, hardware, robot brand, or AI system. That flexibility means manufacturers can choose the right tools for their specific needs rather than getting locked into one ecosystem. Smaller manufacturers who once watched automation from the sidelines could soon join in.

Google has been doubling down on robotics lately. Just last month at CES, the company announced it's working with Boston Dynamics to make its Atlas humanoid robot smarter using similar AI technology. The pattern is clear: Google sees physical AI as the next frontier, where digital intelligence finally bridges into the real world to solve practical problems.

Since launching in 2021, Intrinsic has grown through strategic moves, including acquiring the organization behind the widely used Robot Operating System. Now, backed by Google's resources and AI breakthroughs, the company aims to fundamentally change production economics and operations across manufacturing and logistics industries.

The promise is simple but powerful: robots that are smart enough to adapt and easy enough for anyone to program.