Rethink Robotics (formerly Heartland Robotics, Inc.) is a robotics company co-founded by

Rodney Brooks Rodney Allen Brooks (born 30 December 1954) is an Australian robotics, roboticist, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, author, and robotics entrepreneur, most known for popularizing the behavior based robotics, actionist approach to ro ...

and Ann Whittaker in 2008. In 2018 the assets of Rethink Robotics were bought by the German automation specialist HAHN Group. In 2021 Rethink Robotics joined th
United Robotics Group GmbH
Rethink Robotics has won awards and has been an

Edison Awards Edison Awards is an American company that runs an annual competition honoring excellence in innovation in a broad range of categories. Company The Edison Awards were established by the American Marketing Association in 1987 and has been an i ...

finalist.

History

Rethink Robotics was founded in 2008 as a startup aiming to create low-cost robots. 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. In 2016, they released their collaborative robots ( cobots) worldwide. These robots were designed to be easy to set up and work alongside, rather than replace, humans in factory environments. In October 2018, Rethink Robotics ceased operations and sold off its assets. Other companies picked up support for the robots. * Most of the Rethink Robotics assets were bought by a distributor, the HAHN Group, a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

automation specialist. HAHN Group acquired all of Rethink's patents and trademarks as well as Rethink's Intera 5 software platform. * About 100 Baxter robots and the rights to sell them in North America were bought by Hunan CoThink Robotics Technology Company. In October 2019, one year after the acquisition of assets through the German HAHN Group, Rethink Robotics launched the new Sawyer BLACK Edition. The headquarters of Rethink Robotics moved from Rheinböllen to

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

in mid 2020, and signed a partnership with

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

.Rethink Robotics moves into new HQ, partners with Siemens
- Manufacturing Automation, 1 October 2020 In August 2024 Rethink Robotics GmbH was shut down due to operational reasons. In September 2024 Rethink Robotics, Inc. reappears with new products. After a long hiatus, the company celebrated its rebirth at the IMTS The International Manufacturing Technology Show in 2024 with a new product portfolio including a cobot and AMR line.

References

{{reflist, 2 2008 establishments in Massachusetts Companies based in Bochum Industrial robotics companies Technology companies established in 2008