Boston Dynamics Acquires 3D Vision

May lead to better sight for warehouse operations via 3D Vision.  Smart Factories will likely need autonomous sensing and manipulation abilities for dynamically varying contexts, goals and environments.  A factory or warehouse is by its nature a less than always organized and stable environment.   3D vision could act as an agile way to make sense of human workplaces.

Boston Dynamics' acquisition will help its robots see in 3D
Its robots might find work in factories sooner rather than later.      By Christine Fisher, @cfisher  writes in Engadget 

While Boston Dynamics' robots make for fascinating -- sometimes disturbing -- internet videos, they haven't quite crossed into everyday life. That could change sooner rather than later. Boston Dynamics took a big step toward bringing its box-moving (and running, jumping, dishwashing) robots into the real world with its acquisition of Kinema Systems.

Kinema is a Menlo Park-based company that uses deep learning to give robotic arms the 3D vision they need to locate and move boxes. It can recognize different products and handle boxes of different sizes, even if they're not perfectly level.  .... '