The HAHN Group scooped up the IP and trademarks for the Sawyer collaborative robot and Intera software less than one month after Rethink Robotics Inc. shut down in October 2018. The German automation and robotics specialist, which has 30-plus years of automation experience, recently gave The Robot Report an exclusive look at how it plans to…
Build better robots by listening to customer backlash
In the wake of the closure of Apple’s autonomous car division (Project Titan) this week, one questions if Steve Jobs’ axiom still holds true. “Some people say, ‘Give the customers what they want.’ But that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do,” declared Jobs, who…
Inside the Rethink Robotics shutdown
Rethink Robotics, the Boston, Mass.-based maker of collaborative robots Baxter and Sawyer, shut down on October 3. The Robot Report first reported the story, confirming the news with former Rethink CEO Scott Eckert. Founded in 2008 by former iRobot co-founder Rodney Brooks and Ann Whitaker, Rethink raised $149.5 million in funding, with its last round,…
Universal Robots hires 20+ former Rethink Robotics employees
Universal Robots (UR) has hired 20-plus former Rethink Robotics employees, primarily within engineering and product development roles. In an email to The Robot Report, a UR spokesperson said the company is taking over Boston, Mass.-based Rethink’s old office at 27 Wormwood Street. UR recently opened a Boston office less than half a mile away. Jim…
HAHN Group acquires Rethink Robotics IP
We have not seen the last of Sawyer the collaborative robot. HAHN Group, a German automation specialist, has acquired all of the patents and trademarks from Rethink Robotics, including the Intera 5 software platform. The HAHN Group says it will further develop Rethink’s technology, “combining it with German engineering and know-how of industrial applications.” HAHN Group says it…
GM cobot pioneer: lessons to learn from Rethink Robotics
In the mid-1990s, I led the industry/academia team at General Motors that built the world’s first collaborative robots. It was hard work; most people even in robotics had not heard of a “cobot” (or, “intelligent assist devices” (IADs) as we referred to the broader category), knew what it was, much less how it could be…
Industry Reaction to Rethink Robotics Shutdown
The Robot Report broke the unfortunate news yesterday that Rethink Robotics shut down. The Boston, Mass.-based collaborative robotics pioneer, and maker of the Baxter and Sawyer cobots, reportedly had a deal in place to be acquired, but that deal fell through. The Robot Report heard rumblings for some time that Rethink, founded in 2008 by…
Rethink Robotics Closes its Doors
Rethink Robotics, the Boston, Mass.-based maker of collaborative robots Baxter and Sawyer, shut its doors today. Rethink was founded in 2008 and raised nearly $150 million to date, according to Crunchbase. It’s last round of funding was an $18 million Series E in August 2017. Rethink Robotics CEO Scott Eckert confirmed the news via email…
CNC machine shop increases efficiency with Sawyer cobot
Fitzpatrick Manufacturing, a Sterling Heights, Michigan-based CNC machine shop and custom manufacturer founded in 1952, supplies parts to more than a dozen sectors, including aerospace, automotive, medical equipment and oil and gas. To increase operational efficiency and counterbalance a tight labor market, Fitzpatrick Manufacturing made its initial foray into advanced automation by adopting a Sawyer collaborative…
Rethink Robotics Sawyer SDK Enables Cobot Testing
Rethink Robotics has unveiled the Sawyer Software Development Kit (SDK) designed for researchers and students to build and test programs on the Sawyer collaborative robot. The Sawyer SDK will be available on all Sawyer robots, allowing access to both the Intera manufacturing software and the SDK software, starting in March 2018. With a wide range…