Andy Rubin, Android Founder and Robotics Head leaves Google

Google lost another one of its executives. The former leader and co-founder of Google’s Android mobile business, Andy Rubin is leaving the internet giant. James Kuffner will become head of Google’s robotics department in place of Rubin

The high ranked Google executive, Andy Rubin is leaving the company. He was the head of the company’s nascent robotics group and he was also responsible for the company’s entrance into the mobile and tablet industry. 

Google’s chief executive, Larry Page in his statement said that Mr Rubin is leaving in order to start a new tech incubator. This tech incubator will focus on startups who are interested in building hardware.  In addition to this he said that he wishes, Andy all the best for this next step in life. He then said that Andy created something remarkable with androids and he has made millions of users happy. 

Another Google spokesman said that the company plans to remain committed to robotics and they will continue investing money in this particular sector. The research scientist at Google, James Kuffner said that there is someone inside the sector who will be replacing Mr. Rubin as the unit head. 

In 2005, Google acquired Android and Rubin helped the company to build this particular mobile operating system as the world’s most popular mobile operating system. He was working as a leader of the Google’s robotics group till 2013.

It was because of Mr. Rubin’s vital leadership and vision that helped the company to keep up with its biggest rival, Apple Inc. Mr. Rubin was famous for keeping his Android team detached from the rest of the organization and his employees used to stay with him for years. There was a time when the Android team had an exclusive lunchroom to themselves on the Google campus. 

Mr. Rubin is a free spirited entrepreneur and he does not like any sort of restraint. He likes to run his own show, but recently he was facing constraints on his actions at Google, according to a person who knew both Google and the executive. On the contrary, Mr. Rubin said that he had a good time at Google and there weren’t any independence issues, it’s just that he wanted to do something of his own. However, a Google spokesman refused to comment on why Andy left Google. 

Andy said that the Google’s chief executive, Larry allowed him to run the android department exactly the way he wanted to and because of this they were able to achieve great success in the first year. In 2013, Sundar Pichai another of Google executive took over the Android department from Mr. Rubin. Pichai is considered to be a more friendly and flexible executive. He is also willing to involve the other partners, including wireless network operators and handset makers in the fold.  

After Mr. Rubin’s stepped down from Android, Mr. Page noticed his lifelong obsession with robots and allowed him to pursue his dream. Mr. Rubin had overseen Google’s attainments of various robotics companies including Schaft, Boston Dynamics and Meka Robotics. 

Mr. Rubin’s departure is going to be a big blow for the company, but luckily Mr. Kuffner has immense experience in this sector. He has worked on robot technology for more than two decades now. He worked at Carnegie Mellon University for seven years. His five years’ experience on Google’s self-driving car project makes him an excellent replacement. 

Source: WSJ