Rethink Robotics relaunches with cobots, AMRs, mobile manipulation

Rethink Robotics is making a bold return to Boston with a new roster of collaborative robot arms, autonomous mobile robots, and a mobile manipulator. The company started developing cobots in Boston back in 2008, but it had to revamp its product line and find new owners.

Rethink Robotics had raised $150 million and developed the well-known Baxter and Sawyer collaborative robots before shutting its doors in 2018. The company’s choice of series elastic actuators caused problems with the cobots’ precision. Rethink had licensed the actuation technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Less than a month after the company shut down, German automation and robotics specialist HAHN Group acquired the IP and trademarks for the Sawyer cobot and Intera software. HAHN re-tooled Sawyer, but it still struggled to gain traction in industrial applications.

Boston, you’re my home

Rethink Robotics is now under the United Robotics Group umbrella of HAHN Group. The company is hoping a fresh start in Boston, one of the world’s leading robotics clusters, will help it regain its footing. Rethink currently only has an office at MassRobotics, but it hopes to change that soon.

The U.S.-based company told The Robot Report that it’s looking for an office space. It hopes to have a team up and running in the next 3-6 months.

“When launching Rethink Robotics, we considered Atlanta, Chicago, and Detroit,” said Julia Astrid Riemenschneider, vice president of business development, industrial robots international, at United Robotics Group. “But everyone knows Rethink Robotics as being in Boston.”

Cobots have come a long way since the original Rethink Robotics closed its doors in 2018. Universal Robots (UR), which also has an office in Boston and is owned by Massachusetts-based Teradyne, continues to be the market leader.

However, large robotics players such as ABB, FANUC, and KUKA have stepped up their respective cobot games, too. Force and power-limited robots have gotten stronger, with larger reaches and more intuitive user interfaces, among other improvements.

Competing with these players will be no easy task for Rethink Robotics or any other cobot newcomer. Riemenschneider said competing with UR was not part of the decision to base the company in Boston.

“For industrial applications, Sawyer had issues with repeatability and accuracy and made that strange noise,” she acknowledged. “For most industrial applications, it just wasn’t hardened enough. But our new motto is ‘Better, faster, stronger.’ Rethink Robotics is industry-ready now.”

Rethink reveals new cobot lineup

You won’t see any nods to Baxter and Sawyer in Rethink Robotics’ new Reacher cobot arm line. The new portfolio includes seven models — RE 07, 09, 13, 16, 21, 30, and 30L — that can handle payloads of 7 to 30 kg (15 to 66 lb.).

Each cobot features an IP65 rating for use in wet and dusty environments, and precision with ± 0.03 mm pose repeatability. Depending on the model, Rethink Robotics said its maximum speed ranges from 120 to 200 degrees per second.

The Reacher cobots feature collision detection and compatibility with a variety of accessories such as grippers, vision systems, rails, and other end-of-arm and peripheral tools.

Rethink said its new cobots are designed for a variety of applications, including assembly, machine tending, material handling, palletizing, welding, quality inspection, and more. See the table below for a quick overview of Rethink Robotics’ new Reacher line:

Mobile robots part of new offerings

Rethink Robotics introduced its first-ever autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). The new Rethink Ryder line the light-duty MRE 550 AMR, which can handle payloads up to 550 kg (1,212 lb.), and the heavy-duty MRE 1400 AMR to handle payloads up to 1,400 kg (3,086 lb.).

The company said both AMRs come with an integrated lift function.

Rethink added that both AMRs use multiple sensing modalities for a 360-degree view of the environment in real time. The AMRs use simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) for environmental visualization, dynamic obstacle bypassing, and trajectory planning.

In addition, low-level controllers and sensor data are accessible through open-architecture software compatible with third-party applications, said Rethink.

Riser mobile manipulator combines products

Rethink Robotics is also introducing its Riser mobile manipulator. The system combines a Ryder AMR with a Reacher cobot and a portable battery box. The company told The Robot Report that its innovation is in enabling the arm to be easily detached and re-attached to the AMR.

Rethink said it would send us a video of this in action when we spoke to the company last week, but we’re still waiting on that video.

The company said the cobot arm and AMR each have their own battery packs that require separate charging. Reacher has a 22-hour uptime, Rethink said, while the Ryder AMR can be charged in two ways: manually or wirelessly through inductive charging. Each Ryder comes equipped with three or four battery units based on its size.

The control box that comes with Reacher is a compact and integrated unit designed to manage and control the robot’s operations. This control box houses the essential electronics, including the robot’s processor, power supply, and communication interfaces. It serves as the central hub for executing commands, processing sensor data, and coordinating the robot’s movements.