环球机器人雇用20+前重新思考机器人员工

UR5E的配件可以准备在2018年10月17日在纽约证券交易所打交道。（信用：环球机器人）

环球机器人（UR）聘请了20多名前重新思考机器人员工，主要是在工程和产品开发角色中。在电子邮件中机器人报告，，，，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 Lawton joined UR as VP of Product Management & Marketing. Lawton spent five-plus years at Rethink, including four as Chief Product Officer and Chief Marketing Officer and the last year as Chief Operating Officer. Other hires include Matt Fitzgerald, who joined UR as Global Director of Product Management. Fitzgerald spent six-plus years at Rethink, the last year-plus as VP of Product. Kurt Reiner, who spent four-plus years at Rethink, nearly the last three as VP of Software Development, joined UR as Senior Director of Engineering – Americas.

在一个单独的行动,瓦利德Farahat,塞弗度过的n-plus years at Rethink, most recently as VP of Technology, joined KUKA North America as VP of Product Development. Farahat also held mechatronics and control roles at Rethink. If you use LinkedIn, a filtered search will return about another dozen former Rethink employees who joined UR in October 2018. At press time,UR had 31 job openings，以下五个位于波士顿：

UX铅
UI Architect
软件项目经理
中小企业营销负责人
学习技术专家

UR will certainly pick up some positive press for the move, but expanding its Boston office has been part of the plan for months. In March 2018, UR President Jürgen von Hollen told机器人报告opening the Boston office was theUR的全球扩张计划的第一步。当时，UR在全球范围内约有470名员工，冯·霍伦（Von Hollen）表示，到2018年底将雇用200多名员工。

“Our new colleagues from Rethink have extensive expertise, knowledge and know-how not only about the technology but indeed also about the market conditions and what the customers’ pain-points are. All of this will benefit our customers and partners as we face an increase in competitors due to the huge market potential for collaborative robots,” said von Hollen. “Our ability to secure key members of the Rethink team will have a significant positive impact in meeting market needs and driving innovation.”

Collaborative robots, of course, is the fastest-growing segment of industrial robotics with a forecasted market size of $3.26 billion in 2022. UR claims to have about a 60 percent share of the cobot market, and that won’t be easy to maintain with new competitors regularly entering the market. However, the addition of key Rethink personnel will certainly help UR strategically.

Founded in 2008 by Rodney Brooks and Ann Whitaker, Rethinkshut down on October 3, 2018。It raised nearly $150 million in funding, with the last round, an $18 million Series E, coming in August 2017. Former Rethink CEO Scott Eckert said an expected deal for Rethink to be acquired fell through. Just three weeks after it closed, however,德国自动化专家Hahn Group收购了Rethink的IP。Hahn Group表示，它将通过“将其与德国工程和工业应用的专业知识相结合”来进一步开发Rethink的技术。

机器人报告asked if UR ever had interest in acquiring Rethink’s IP, but the spokesperson declined comment. Things have been pretty good for UR of late. It6月推出了旗舰电子系列，在9月和10月17日出售了其第25,000名配盒在纽约证券交易所的闭幕式。对于Teradyne在2015年以2.85亿美元收购的公司而言，这公司不太破旧。”

“Rethink Robotics – along with Universal Robots – has been a pioneer in driving and developing the collaborative robotics market globally,” said von Hollen. “The company was always a good competitor, which helped us drive cobot awareness worldwide, and we want to make sure its customers can continue to fulfill their collaborative automation initiatives.”