Google has made headlines this year for building a hangar to house its drones and for buying robots, but its latest purchase will be used on a smaller scale.
The search giant has acquired DrawElements, a 3-D graphics company based in Helsinki, VentureBeat reported. According to the startup, DrawElements technology will be used in Google's Android platform.
"We're excited to announce that we're joining Google. Thanks to everyone who has helped us along the way; we're grateful for your support," DrawElements said on its website. "Over the next few months, we'll be working with our colleagues on the Android team to incorporate some of our technology into the compatibility test suite. Stay tuned!"
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Google is believed to have paid around $10 million for the 3-D startup, VentureBeat reported via Arcticstartup.
Some of the DrawElements team will remain in Finland, but most of them will likely move to Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters.
The Helsinki-based startup's technology allows developers to test different graphics processing units across mobile devices.
Perhaps the 3-D technology can be used for projects like the Google smartphone designed for space robots.
Google's Advanced Technology and Projects group has been teaming up with NASA to implement the device into the space agency's SPHERES, which are zero-gravity robots under development to assist astronauts.
"The 3D-tracking and mapping capabilities of Project Tango would allow SPHERES to reconstruct a 3D-map of the space station and, for the first time in history, enable autonomous navigation of a floating robotic platform 230 miles above the surface of the earth," Google said in a blog post published in April.
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