Robot Pioneer Rethink Shuts Down

Rethink Robotics led the way in building robots that could work safely alongside humans. But when it came to selling those robots, Boston-based Rethink came up second best. On Wednesday, without warning, Rethink shut its doors, after a deal to acquire the company fell through. From a report: "We thought that we had a deal that we were going to be able to close," said Rethink chief executive Scott Eckert. But the buyer backed out. Eckert declined to identify the company that had broken off the acquisition. Eckert said Rethink ran low on cash as sales of the company's Baxter and Sawyer robots fell short of expectations. "We got out a little early with a very, very innovative product, and unfortunately did not get the commercial success that we expected to get," he said. Rethink was a pioneer in developing collaborative robots, or "cobots," which are designed to work side-by-side with humans. Their software makes them easy to program, even by workers with no training in robotics, and they come with sensors and software to prevent them from accidentally harming nearby humans.

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[Desler]

True. Bankruptcy is sometimes the only workable business plan.

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[Desler]

A couple of magic beans?

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[hey!]

Well just to play devil's advocate, it's not just about marketing, like slapping tail fins and chrome on a car. Facial expressions are one of the few communication systems that are universal across human cultures. That's obviously not true of language and writing, but gestures too are purely arbitrary in their meaning.

The communication you can do with a simulated face is clearly very limited, but potentially useful in certain situations (e.g. where danger is involved).

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[Desler]

Because every company is "best in class" or "world reknowned" or the "industry leader" in their field. It's just typical PR fluff.

Re: Founded in 2008

[anegg]

One of the principals in the company, Dr. Rodney Brooks, did pioneering work in robotics at MIT quite a while ago (the subsumption architecture). That approach today has morphed into behavior-based robotics. The Baxter robot was designed to operate safely in close proximity to humans, another pioneering aspect. Most industrial robots operate in "cells" where human presence is prohibited for safety reasons. Putting "real" robots in close proximity to humans still has significant risks ("real" isn't neces

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[HornWumpus]

It's actually pretty simple. If people are stronger than the robot, the robot doesn't have to be in a safety cage.

Obviously not true if the robot is wielding a chainsaw or anything else dangerous.

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[alvinrod]

Normally you want to use a robot (or some other form of automation) because it is strong than a human or several dozens of them.

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[HornWumpus]

More precise, more consistent.

If a human can push it back, it's unlikely to hurt them.

Revenue problem or Fat Startup?

[DidgetMaster]

Startups usually fail for one of two reasons. Either they were trying to grow organically and were never able to generate enough revenue to sustain the company; or they got a wad of cash from venture capitalists and they burned through it too fast. The country is full of startups that got $10M+ in cash but burned through it quickly because they were spending like drunken sailors. Executives with fat salaries and expense accounts. Plush offices and tons of perks. Expensive marketing events that try to create

What failed?

[HeckRuler]

Wow, I thought that Baxter robot was going to take over a lot of jobs. They advertised it as being cheaper than a minimum wage employee... was that fudged a bit? I could easily see if setup and programming the thing was way more complicated and involved than they claimed.

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[vlad30]

That is true of many startups not just robotics occasionally you will see them on places like shark tank germ of an idea partially built with the help of low paid, if paid at all "friends", They look for a big payday on the stocks hoping someone will be gullible enough to invest.

In the past they relied on pre-orders now they just go for the IPO, or crowd funding sites. The thing to look for is how much of their own money and time went into it.

This guy on the other hand relied on a sale to china a countr