Odense, Denmark-based Universal Robots has hired more than 20 former Rethink Robotics employees, primarily within engineering and product development roles. A Universal Robots spokesperson told The Robot Report, a sibling site to Collaborative Robotics Trends, that the company is taking over Rethink’s former office at 27 Wormwood Street in Boston. Universal recently opened an office less than half a mile away, but it will no longer stay there.

Jim Lawton has joined Universal Robots as vice president of product management  and marketing. He spent more than five years at Rethink, including four as chief product officer and chief marketing officer. Last year, Lawton served as chief 0perating officer.

Other hires include Matt Fitzgerald, who joined Universal Robots as global director of product management. Fitzgerald spent six-plus years at Rethink, the last year-plus as vice president of product. Kurt Reiner, who spent four-plus years at Rethink, with three as vice president of software development, has joined Universal as senior director of engineering for the Americas.

When Rethink closed its doors in October, it reportedly had 91 employees, including 71 in Boston.

In a separate move, Waleed Farahat, who spent seven-plus years at Rethink, most recently as vice president of technology, joined KUKA North America as vice president of technology development. Farahat also held mechatronics and control roles at Rethink.

A filtered search on LinkedIn found about another dozen former Rethink employees who joined UR in October 2018. At press time, UR had 31 job openings, the following five of which were located in Boston:

• UX lead
• UI architect
• Software project manager
• Head of SME marketing
• Learning technologist

Universal Robots will certainly pick up some positive press for the move, but expanding its Boston office has been part of its plan for months. In March 2018, Universal Robots President Jürgen von Hollen told us that a Boston office was the first step in UR’s global expansion plans. The company has about 470 employees worldwide, and von Hollen said it would hire another 200 by the end of 2018.

“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,” said von Hollen. “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. 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 predicted market size of $3.26 billion in 2022. Universal Robots claims to have about a 60% 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, Rethink shut down last month. It had raised nearly $150 million in funding through 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, German automation specialist HAHN Group acquired Rethink’s IP. HAHN Group said it will further develop Rethink’s technology by “combining it with German engineering and know-how of industrial applications.”

We aasked if UR ever had interest in acquiring Rethink’s IP, but the spokesperson declined comment. Things have been pretty good for Universal Robots of late. It launched its flagship e-Series in June, sold its 25,000th cobot in September, and on Oct. 17, a UR cobot rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Not too shabby for the company that was acquired by Teradyne in 2015 for $285 million.

“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.”