Despite the general industry buzz around robotics, Google’s initiative in this area, called Replicant, has made only halting progress, and the company has now put its Boston Dynamics unit up for sale. Google acquired the company, which makes lifelike and highly robust robots such as Big Dog, in late 2013, one of a total of eight purchases it has made in this field. However, sources indicate that Replicant – now part of the Alphabet umbrella company which includes Google – has suffered from lack of coordination, leadership and common purpose. Possible acquirers could include Amazon, which is investing heavily in robotics for warehousing and delivery purposes, though Boston’s inventions might be overkill for that purpose – the start-up was most…