[DannyBee]

"Google employees were implying that Andy Rubin got bored of Android and left to work on robotics and people suggesting the opposite were getting downvoted. It still could be true but looks less likely down."

Andy definitely got bored and went to work on robots before. He even says that in the article.

As for what happened this time, no idea.

I have some guesses though, and none of them are "forced out".

[elpachuco]

Well don't leave us hanging. Let us know your guesses. I'm really interested to know. Several other people in this thread seem to know and yet are not saying anything.

Edit: I found this quote from [1]. "Jessica Lessin at The Information tweeted that Rubin wanted more freedom for his robotics group. She said he wanted a structure like Calico, which is the anti-aging company Google has started.

Our guess is that Page views robotics as something he understands better, and considers it core to Google, and therefore would not want to give it the same independence. "

If so it seems rather short sighted for Page to let somebody like Andy Rubin leave. Rubin is self motivated,passionate,driven about what he does and he could have done great work with robotics.

[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/andy-rubin-out-of-google-2014...

2nd Edit: At least now I'm hopeful that Google will not own robotics.

[DannyBee]

My best guess is similar: He wanted to keep independence They were not willing to give it He took his ball and went home.

But this is a wild guess. Andy, from what I've heard/known, never particularly liked the "CEO" aspect of his job. So having a more traditional structure would probably be more than just "not enjoyable" to him.