Rethink Robotics

Rethink Robotics
Formerly called
Heartland Robotics[1]
Industry robotics
Founded 2008
Founders Rodney Brooks, Ann Whittaker
Number of employees
85[2]
Website rethinkrobotics.com

Rethink Robotics (formerly Heartland Robotics[1]) is a company co-founded by Rodney Brooks and Ann Whittaker in 2008.[3] It is located in Boston, Massachusetts.[3] Rethink Robotics is well-known for producing Baxter, a robot that is used in factories and can be "taught" new skills rather than programmed.[4][5]

A major theme of Rethink Robotics' technologies is having robots that are cost effective and can collaborate with human colleagues, handling dangerous tasks so humans can focus on other tasks.[6]

History

Rethink Robotics was founded in 2008[3] as a startup aiming to create low-cost robots.[7] In 2012, they released the robot Baxter. In 2015, they released a smaller and more flexible counterpart to Baxter, Sawyer, that was designed to perform smaller, more detailed tasks.[8] In 2016, they released their latest collaborative robots (cobots) in Australia and New Zealand. These robots were designed to be easy to set up and work alongside, rather than replace, humans in factory environments.[6]

Rethink Robotics has won awards and has been an Edison Awards finalist.[9]

Products

References

  1. 1 2 "Heartland Robotics, Inc. Changes Name to Rethink Robotics". Yahoo! Finance. June 19, 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  2. "Rethink Robotics". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "Company Overview of Rethink Robotics, Inc.". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  4. "Baxter | Redefining Robotics and Manufacturing". Rethink Robotics. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  5. Lizette Chapman (8 January 2015). "Rethink Robotics Raises $26.6M to Go Global With Its Robots". WSJ. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  6. 1 2 Claire Roberta (January 29, 2016). "Impact Robotics introduces next-gen "cobots" in Australia". Australian Manufacturing. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  7. Guizzo, Erico; Ackerman, Evan (September 18, 2012). "How Rethink Robotics Built Its New Baxter Robot Worker". IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  8. Jack Linshi (March 19, 2015). "Meet Sawyer, a New Robot That Wants to Revolutionize Manufacturing". time.com. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  9. John Duhamel; et al. (May 20, 2013). "Rethink Robotics -- Finding a Market" (PDF). Stanford University. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  10. "About Rethink Robotics | Building A Better Robot". Rethink Robotics. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
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