Aaron Saunders, the former chief technology officer of Boston Dynamics who joined Google DeepMind in 2025, announced the initiative on LinkedIn on October 12.
Saunders confirmed that the facility will house a robotics hardware team that has been expanding over the past year. He also invited machinists, engineers and researchers interested in developing intelligent physical systems to join the project.
The announcement follows Google DeepMind’s growing investment in robotics research, including its Gemini Robotics models, which combine visual understanding, language reasoning and physical action.
The company’s research has increasingly focused on developing AI systems capable of operating across different robotic platforms and completing tasks in physical environments.
Saunders brings more than two decades of robotics engineering experience from Boston Dynamics, where he contributed to the development of platforms including BigDog, Spot and Atlas.
His appointment in 2025 strengthened Google DeepMind’s hardware engineering capabilities as the company continued advancing its robotics foundation models.
The new laboratory will be located within the greater Boston robotics ecosystem, close to research institutions including MIT and established robotics companies such as Boston Dynamics.
Google DeepMind has not disclosed the facility’s exact location, size, investment budget or opening schedule. Saunders indicated that further announcements would follow in 2027, without specifying whether they would concern the laboratory, new hardware or additional research developments.
