Sources: Alphabet executives nixed a plan to sell robotic arms built by Google's robotics group because they wouldn't be used daily by billions of people
@mhbergen , More stories by Mark Bergen — Product developed in-house failed Page's ‘toothbrush test’ — Robotics experts frustrated with Google's perfectionism
Context & Ripple Effects
This report sits at the pivot point of Google's robotics ambitions. A year earlier, published research showed the group making strides and it was set to become a standalone division under Alphabet (spun out as its own division); by January 2016 Alphabet had moved the robotics effort into X and hired ex-Nokia executive Hans Peter Brondmo to run it.
What Bloomberg now reveals is why that momentum stalled commercially: executives applied Larry Page's 'toothbrush test' — would billions of people use it daily — and industrial robotic arms failed it. The same filter foreshadows what came next: Schaft was dissolved in 2018 after a SoftBank sale collapsed (the unit wound down), and in 2023 Everyday Robots lost its status as a separate project, with its tech and staff folded into Google Research (consolidated away) .
First-order effects
- Google's robotics group loses a ready commercialization path: working robotic arms stay unsold in-house while robotics experts on the team grow frustrated with leadership's perfectionism over market fit.
Second-order effects
- With no external sales channel, the projects become dependent on internal Alphabet patronage — which is exactly how Schaft ended two years later, dissolved once its fallback SoftBank deal fell through.
Third-order effects
- Page's daily-use-by-billions bar acts as a structural bias against industrial and B2B robotics inside Alphabet, pushing the discipline toward research consolidation rather than product businesses — the pattern behind Schaft's closure and Everyday Robots' absorption.
The trend: Alphabet's consumer-scale 'toothbrush test' keeps converting its robotics bets from standalone businesses into absorbed research assets.