Universal Robots is a Danish manufacturer of smaller flexible industrial collaborative robot arms ( cobots), based in

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (after Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2025, the city proper had a population of 185,480 while Odense Municipality had a population of 210, ...

, Denmark. Since 2015, the company is owned by American

automatic test equipment Automatic test equipment or automated test equipment (ATE) is any apparatus that performs tests on a device, known as the device under test (DUT), equipment under test (EUT) or unit under test (UUT), using automation to quickly perform measure ...

designer and manufacturer

Teradyne Teradyne, Inc. is an American automatic test equipment (ATE) designer and manufacturer based in North Reading, Massachusetts. Its high-profile customers include Samsung, Qualcomm, Intel, Analog Devices, Texas Instruments and IBM. History T ...

. Universal Robots was the first company to launch a collaborative robot that could safely operate alongside employees, eliminating the need for safety cages or fencing. As of 2022, Universal Robots was the market leader for collaborative robots, credited with 40-50% of the market share.

History

Universal Robots was founded in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

in 2005 by Esben Østergaard, Kasper Støy, and Kristian Kassow. During joint research at the Syddansk Universitet Odense, the founders came to the conclusion that the robotics market was dominated by heavy, expensive, and unwieldy robots. That led them to develop the idea to make robot technology accessible to small and medium-sized businesses. In 2008, the first UR5 cobots were available on the Danish and German markets. In 2012 the second cobot, UR10, was launched. In spring 2015, the table-top cobot UR3 was launched. In 2015, Universal Robots was acquired by

for USD 285 million.Godske, Bjørn.
Universal Robots solgt for 1,9 mia. kroner
''

Ingeniøren ''Ingeniøren'' (full name: ''Nyhedsmagasinet Ingeniøren'', literally ''The News Magazine "The Engineer"'') is a Danish weekly newspaper specialising in engineering topics. History and profile The paper has covered science and technology issues ...

'', 13 May 2015. Accessed: 13 May 2015. In 2016, Universal Robots launched the UR Academy, a training platform that offers online and in-class robotics training courses. In the same year, Universal Robots launched the UR+ Ecosystem, a platform for third party developers to create and sell products that are compatible with collaborative robots from Universal Robots. At Automatica 2018, a German trade fair for smart automation and robotics

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Universal Robots introduced a new generation of collaborative robots called the "e-Series". In 2019, the company launched the UR16e cobot. In 2020, Universal Robots had installed 50,000 collaborative robots worldwide. In April 2022, Universal Robots announced that it had broken ground on a new headquarter in

. The headquarter will be shared with Universal Robot's sister compan
MiR
It will be the world's largest hub for collaborative robots and autonomous mobile robots. In 2022, Universal Robots opened its 100th training center for cobot programming in

Täby Täby () was previously a trimunicipal locality, with 76,700 inhabitants in 2024. However, as from 2016, Statistics Sweden has amalgamated this locality with the Stockholm urban area. It is the seat of Täby Municipality in Stockholm County, Sw ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The company has training centers in 23 countries. At Automatica 2022, a German trade fair for smart automation and robotics, the company revealed the UR20 as its latest product addition.

Products

Universal Robots has seven collaborative robots on the market. All robots are six-jointed robot arms. The CB3-series consists of the UR3, UR5 and UR10, while UR16e, UR10e, UR5e and UR3e are part of the newer e-series. The UR20 is the first collaborative robot in a whole new generation of collaborative robots. Universal Robots' collaborative robots are used for many different applications including

welding Welding is a fabrication (metal), fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, primarily by using high temperature to melting, melt the parts together and allow them to cool, causing Fusion welding, fusion. Co ...

machine tending Machine tending refers to the automated operation of industrial machine tools in a manufacturing plant, primarily using robot automation systems. While loading and unloading is the primary function of machine tending systems, often the robot perf ...

, palletizing and

grinding (abrasive cutting) Grinding is a type of abrasive machining process which uses a grinding wheel as cutting tool. A wide variety of machines are used for grinding, best classified as portable or stationary: * Portable power tools such as angle grinders, die gri ...

within industries such as automotive,

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

pharmaceuticals Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...

plastics Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic materials composed primarily of polymers. Their defining characteristic, plasticity, allows them to be molded, extruded, or pressed into a diverse range of solid forms. This adaptab ...

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for Nutrient, nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or Fungus, fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein (nutrient), proteins, vitamins, ...

and

beverage A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothie ...

Awards and recognition

Universal Robots received an Honoree in the "robotics" category at Automation World’s “Leadership in Automation” in 2016. At the Learning Technologies Award in London at the end of 2017, the UR Academy was awarded “Silver” in the category “Excellence in the design of learning content - international commercial sector” In 2018, Esben Østergaard, one of the co-founders of Universal Robots, was awarded the Engelberger Robotics Award for his work on developing Universal Robot's collaborative robots. At the 2018 Annual Manufacturing Leadership Awards, Universal Robots won three awards in "Collaborative Innovation Leadership" for the UR+ platform, "Smart Products and Services Leadership" for the product portfolio, and co-founder Esben Østergaard received an award in the category "Visionary Leadership".

References

External links

* {{official website, https://www.universal-robots.com/ Danish brands Industrial machine manufacturers Industrial robotics companies Robotics companies Electronics companies of Denmark Manufacturing companies of Denmark Companies based in Odense Municipality Danish companies established in 2005 Electronics companies established in 2005 2015 mergers and acquisitions