The Riser cellular manipulator was one in all Rethink Robotics’ final releases. Supply: Rethink Robotics
Rethink Robotics Inc., which rose as a force- and power-limited arm pioneer, has shut down for a second time.
“Sadly, Rethink Robotics died a second time,” Julia Astrid Riemenschneider, former CEO of Rethink, instructed The Robotic Report. “After the primary chapter in 2018, the corporate was acquired by Hahn Automation Group and later turned a part of United Robotics Group.”
Rethink had named Riemenschneider as CEO, alongside Franziska Lorenz as chief operations officer, in December 2024. They stayed in these roles till August 2025.
Rethink Robotics’ saga spans nearly 20 years
Robotics innovators Rodney Brooks and Ann Whittaker co-founded Heartland Robotics in 2008 with the intent of making low-cost robots. In 2012, the then-Boston-based firm renamed itself Rethink Robotics and launched the two-armed Baxter, one of many first so-called collaborative robots. It was initially widespread with researchers.
In 2015, Rethink launched Sawyer, a one-armed cobot with a smaller design and larger programming flexibility. It raised $150 million alongside the best way. Nevertheless, Rethink’s robots suffered from nagging issues with precision and repeatability due to the selection of sequence elastic actuators.
In 2018, Rethink went bankrupt, and HAHN Group acquired its mental property (IP). HAHN Robotics deliberate to “apply German engineering” to refurbish the cobots. Within the meantime, Denmark’s Common Robots had grow to be the market chief, and even industrial automation suppliers that had as soon as scoffed on the class had introduced their very own choices.
By September 2024, United Robotics Group (URG) relaunched Rethink and returned the firm from Germany to the U.S. Nevertheless, its newest Reacher robotic arms, Ryder autonomous cellular robots (AMRs), and Riser cellular manipulator robots (MMRs) introduced new challenges.
“On the finish of 2024, United Robotics Group relaunched Rethink Robotics with the portfolio of white-labeled cobots, AMRs, and MMRs from a German robotic startup,” defined Riemenschneider. “Sadly, the merchandise weren’t able to be launched, so gross sales was behind plan. On the identical time, the traders of United Robotics Group determined to drag again their funds and let the group file chapter, which led to the discontinuation of Rethink Robotics within the U.S.”
URG final 12 months additionally declined to proceed funding service robotic maker Aldebaran, which shut down in February 2025. In July, Maxvision Know-how Corp. acquired the core property associated to Aldebaran’s flagship robots, Nao and Pepper.
The Sawyer (left) and Baxter collaborative robots. Supply: Rethink Robotics
Quo vadis for cobots?
“It’s been powerful and possibly the toughest job I ever needed to work on,” Riemenschneider stated. “We launched at IMTS in Chicago in September in 2024, and as we had been ramping up between three occasions in January/February 2025, issues began happening.”
“I simply had employed new workers and invested closely into advertising and inventory,” she added. “(It was) heartbreaking to let go on a workforce that was all in an excited to assist Americas manufacturing business to automate.”
The destiny of Hebron, Ky.-based Rethink Robotics’ IP and newest fashions has not but been introduced. Nonetheless, Work together Evaluation predicted that the cobot market “having hit a cyclical all-time low in 2024, is poised for a brand new progress cycle.”
