PRESS KIT
Facts & Figures
Universal Robots A/S
Founded
2005
Headquarters
Odense (Denmark)
Management
Jürgen von Hollen, President
Esben H. Østergaard, CTO
Employees
350+
Core business
Universal Robots has reinvented industrial robotics with lightweight and flexible robot arms. The
Danish-designed robots automate production in all industries – even in SMEs that regard automation as
prohibitively expensive, cumbersome, and difficult to integrate.
Target group
Small and medium-sized, but also big enterprises.
Vertical markets
Metal and machining, automotive, food and agriculture, furniture, pharma and chemistry, plastic and
polymers, etc.
Sales channel
Global network of distributors (over 300 sales partners in more than 55 countries).
Products and range
Industrial Robots: six-axis articulated robot arms
UR3: Can handle payloads of up to 3 kilos (6.6 lbs). Working radius: 500 mm (19.7 in).
UR5: Can handle payloads of up to 5 kilos (11 lbs). Working radius: 850 mm (33.5 in).
UR10: Can handle payloads of up to 10 kilos (22 lbs). Working radius: 1350+ mm (51.2).
Universal Robots+: Besides the three collaborating robot arms, the company offers Universal Robots+,
an unique ecosystem that provides space for the creation of all thinkable applications within the free
developer program +YOU. The innovative Plug&Play applications (URCaps) are being presented in the
Universal Robots+ showroom. URCaps pave the consumer's way to the most easy and quick setup of
Universal Robots applications.
Principal benefits
2017/03
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Simple to program
Easy to install
Flexible deployment
Adjustable safety functions
Collaborative robots – can run without safety guarding, based on the results of a risk assessment
Fast payback period (quick ROI)
Works independently without any need for human monitoring and control
Extremely quiet – no irritating robot noise
Energy-efficient
Modular design
TÜV approved
True Absolute Encoders - no need for encoder battery backup
Multiple I/O’s - seamless integration with external machinery
PRESS KIT
Get in touch
Please visit www.universal-robots.com for more information on the company.
Download multimedia: http://www.universal-robots.com/en/media/downloads/
Company contact:
Press Coordinator:
Universal Robots A/S
President Jürgen von Hollen
Energivej 25
DK-5260 Odense S
Denmark
Universal Robots A/S
Global PR & Communications Manager
Thomas Stensbøl
Energivej 25
DK-5260 Odense S
Denmark
+45 89 93 89 89
[email protected]
+45 89 93 89 89
+45 31 16 85 93
[email protected]
Website: www.universal-robots.com
www.universal-robots.com/plus/
Case studies: http://www.universal-robots.com/en/case-stories/
Social media:
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Get in touch
Addresses:
HEADQUARTER
Universal Robots A/S
Energivej 25
DK-5260 Odense S
Denmark
+45 89 93 89 89
Fax +45 38 79 89 89
[email protected]
[email protected]
REGIONAL OFFICES
USA
Universal Robots USA, Inc.
11 Technology Drive
East Setauket, New York 11733
USA
+ 1 631 610 9664
[email protected]
[email protected]
CHINA
Universal Robots (Shanghai) Ltd.
Room 2008, 20th Floor
No. 688 West Nanjing Road
Jingan District
200041 PRC, Shanghai
China
+86 21 6132 6418
[email protected]
[email protected]
CVR N0.: 29 13 80 60
INDIA
Universal Robots India Pvt. Ltd
Ground floor, Beech, E1 Manyata Embassy
Business Park
Outer Ring Road, Nagawara
Bangalore 560045
+91 97428 22033
[email protected]
GERMANY
Universal Robots GmbH
Fürstenriederstrasse 279a
D – 81377 Munic
Germany
+49 160 9349 1227
[email protected]
SOUTHERN EUROPE, MEA, TURKEY
Universal Robots Spain S.L.
c/Josep Plà 2 – B2 Torre Bmar
Torres Diagonal Litoral
Local C – Planta Baja
08019 Barcelona
Spain
Southeast Asia & Oceania
Universal Robots (Singapore) Pte, Ltd.
20 Science Park Road, Teletech Park
Science Park II, #03-36/37,
SINGAPORE 117674
+65 66 35 72 70
[email protected]
+34 933 158 076
[email protected]
[email protected]
CZECH REPUBLIC
Universal Robots A/S
Siemensova 2717/4
Budova City west B1. 2. patro
15500 Prague 13
Czech Republic
Northeast Asia
Universal Robots AS, Japan Branch
Shin Marunouchi Center Bldg, 21F,
1-6-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 100-0005,
[email protected]
PRESS KIT
Management
Jürgen von Hollen, President, Universal Robots A/S
Jürgen von Hollen is President at Universal Robots and is responsible for leading Universal Robots through a period of explosive
growth, driving the adoption of easy to use, safe, and economical Cobots across the globe. The President of Universal Robots has
extensive international experience living and working in 8 different countries across Europe, America, Asia and Africa.
He joined the first mover in 2016, previously having been the Executive President of the Engineering Solutions Division which
includes the Automation and Controls business of Bilfinger SE, in Mannheim, Germany, a leading international Engineering and
Services company. In his role at Bilfinger, he was responsible for a global staff of nearly 10,000 and annual sales in excess of
€1billion. Jürgen von Hollen began his career with Daimler-Benz Aerospace and held senior management roles at Daimler-Chrysler
Services, Deutsche Telecom and Pentair.
He holds a Master of Business Administration from Henley Management College, UK, and has a Bachelors Degree in Business and
Politics from Brock University, Canada.
Language skills: German, English, Dutch, and Afrikaans.
https://nl.linkedin.com/in/juergenvonhollen
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https://www.skyfish.com/sh/589a301424c110b8b94d9354cf7f4a1b416014ae/17e00361/715556
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Management
Esben H. Østergaard, CTO & founder
Esben H. Østergaard is Chief Technology Officer at Universal Robots and is responsible for the enhancement of existing UR robots
and the development of new products. He holds a Ph.D. in Robotics.
Esben H. Østergaard is one of the inventors behind the UR robots. During his years from 2001 – 2005 as researcher and assistant
professor in robotics and user interfaces at University of Southern Denmark, he created the foundation for a reinvention of the
industrial robot. In 2005, this led him to found Universal Robots together with two of his research colleagues. Since then, Universal
Robots has taken about 30 patents on the technology of the robot. Besides his work as CTO, Esben H. Østergaard is participating
in national research projects and he is also an external examiner at several universities in Denmark.
Earlier in his career, he worked as a research scientist at USC Robotics Labs in Southern California and also at AIST in Tokyo as a
visiting researcher. During his studies in Computer Science, Physics and Multimedia at Aarhus University in Denmark, he focused
exclusively on robotics and became world champion in his hobby, robot football, in 1998.
Language skills: Danish, English
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/esben-%C3%B8stergaard/7/b6/3bb
Download portraits:
https://www.skyfish.com/sh/1dcbe7a14083e2f857d417b4d506d1cdf42a127c/179f035b/622463
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Company profile
Universal Robots makes robot technology accessible to all levels of industry. The Danish company has taken the world by storm
with unique industrial robots that optimize production in ever expanding markets. By offering a user-friendly, affordable robot,
Universal Robots lowers the automation barrier enabling automation in areas previously considered too complex or costly.
Corporate values
• The highest priority of Universal Robots is 2X value creation. All decisions are based on this and all employees are responsible
for creating financial value for our customers and UR.
• Universal Robots puts control of factory automation back into the hands of operators.
• Universal Robots is committed to being the global authority on easily programmable, safe and flexible industrial robots.
• Universal Robots strives to make distributors successful. We choose and support distributors who are willing to build
partnerships based on mutual gain.
• Universal Robots facilitates the development and sharing of robotic applications.
• Universal Robots attracts and rewards performance-driven employees who can share a passion for building a globally admired
company.
• Universal Robots thinks globally when taking decisions while making adjustments to meet local differences and cultures.
• As a global company, Universal Robots proactively shares information with colleagues who will benefit from our knowledge and
experiences.
PRESS KIT
Company profile
History
2003
At the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Esben Østergaard, Kasper Støy and Kristian Kassow analyze the special
requirements for robots in the food industry. Their conclusion is that the robotics market is dominated by heavy, expensive and
unwieldy robots.
2005
As a consequence of this, the three engineers found Universal Robots in 2005. Their declared goal is to make robot technology
accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises by launching a lightweight robot that is easy to install and program. The
establishment of the company is made possible through a seed investment by Syddansk Innovation.
2008
The Danish Growth Fund, a state investment fund, is convinced of Universal Robots’ potential and joins the company’s
management and Syddansk Innovation in an investment round.
The first UR5 robots are sold by distributors in Denmark and Germany.
2010
Universal Robots expands its business to include all of Europe.
2011
Universal Robots enters the Asian market and establishes a local office in China.
2012
Universal Robots’ 10 kilo payload robot, UR10, is launched. The company establishes an American subsidiary based in New York.
A total of 1,600 UR robots is installed in industry worldwide.
2013
Universal Robots establishes a Chinese subsidiary in a new base in Shanghai. The company establishes a distributor network in
South America and Oceania.
2014
The company moves to a new 12,000 square meter HQ, seven times bigger than the former Universal Robot domicile, featuring a
daily production capacity of 150 robots.
The third generation of the lightweight UR5 and UR10 robot arms is introduced at the AUTOMATICA Show in Munich, Germany
and the IMTS show in Chicago. With eight new adjustable safety rated functions, Universal Robots presents the only robots in the
world that adapt advanced safety settings to each specific application.
A total of 3,800 UR robots are installed worldwide.
Universal Robots also establishes a subsidiary in Barcelona, Spain.
2015
A new UR subsidiary for the APAC region opens in Singapore.
Universal Robots launches UR3 – the world’s most flexible, lightweight table-top robot to work alongside humans. The new 3 kilo
payload robot for light assembly tasks and automated workbench scenarios is presented at trade shows in Shanghai, Chicago and
Hannover.
Universal Robots is acquired by Teradyne for $285M. Teradyne is the leading supplier of automated test equipment used to test
semiconductors, wireless products, data storage, and complex electronic systems. The company currently employs approximately
3,800 people worldwide. Universal Robots continues operations under the same management while UR’s headquarters, R&D, and
production facilities remain in Denmark. Learn more about Teradyne www.teradyne.com
2016
Regional offices open in Delhi/Bangalore, India, Munich, Germany and Prague, Czech Republic.
As of September 2016 more than 10,000 collaborating UR robots are in use worldwide.
Universal Robots presents Universal Robots+: A unique ecosystem that adds value for the developer community, distributors and
end consumers of the Danish pioneer in human-robot-collaboration. Universal Robots+ unites the developer program +YOU with a
showroom for presenting innovative Plug&Play applications.
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Company profile
The international market for robots
The market for robots has been characterized by heavy, expensive and unwieldy robots made by engineers for engineers. Universal
Robots is at the forefront of a new emerging reality, launching a new class of robots, dubbed “collaborative robots” due to their
ability to work directly alongside employees with no safety caging. These kinds of co-bots are poised to bridge the gap between
fully-manual assembly and fully-automated manufacturing lines. Nowhere is that more obvious than in the SME sector, which, until
now, considered robot automation as too costly and complex to even consider.
Unlike their big brothers working behind glass at automobile plants and other big assembly lines, the UR robots are lightweight,
flexible and can easily be moved and reprogrammed to solve new tasks, meeting the short-run production challenge faced by
companies adjusting to ever more advanced processing in smaller batch sizes. According to RIA (Robotic Industries Association)
only 10% of companies that could benefit from robots have installed any so far. The reason that number is so low is primarily due
to three challenges now addressed by the UR robots: Cost, user-friendliness, and applicability.
The products
Universal Robots’ first product was the UR5, a six-jointed articulated robot arm that revolutionized the market for industrial robots.
The UR5 weighs 18 kilos (40.6lbs), has a lifting capacity of up to 5 kilos (11 lbs) and a working radius of 850 mm (33.5 in).
In 2012, Universal Robots’ UR10, with a payload of 10 kilos (22 lbs) and a reach of 1300 mm (51.2 in), was launched. The UR10
has been designed according to exactly the same principles as the UR5, which means it is just as flexible and easy to fit into the
production process.
In 2014 a brand new generation of UR5 and UR10 was introduced, enabling the UR robots to adapt advanced safety settings to
each specific application. The new generation featured true absolute encoders, eight adjustable safety rated functions, 32 built-in
I/O’s and an improved workflow for connecting equipment to the control boxes. The safety system “UR Safety 3.0” was certified by
TÜV.
2015 saw the launch of UR3, a new compact table-top robot weighing only 11 kilos (24.3 lbs), but with a payload of 3 kilos (6.6
lbs), 360-degree rotation on all wrist joints and infinite rotation on the end joint. These unique features make UR3 the most flexible,
lightweight, table-top robot to work side-by-side with employees in the market today. It’s an ideal choice for applications that
require 6-axis capabilities where size, safety and costs are critical.
Detailed product information and technical specifications relating to UR3, UR5 and UR10 are available at:
http://www.universal-robots.com/en/products/
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Company profile
Operation
The robot arms are simple and intuitive to use, require no robotics or programming experience, and can be operated by all
employees in the production facility. The UR robots do not need monitoring by staff and can work independently in 24/7 lights out
production environments.
Sales structure
Universal Robots, which is a part of Teradyne Inc., is headquartered in Odense, Denmark, and has subsidiaries and regional offices
in the USA, Spain, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, China, Singapore, India, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.
Universal Robots’ robot arms are marketed internationally via an extensive network of distributors.
A list can be found here:
http://www.universal-robots.com/en/distributors/
PRESS KIT
Our robots
Characteristics:
Universal Robots offers significant productivity and safety advantages, even for small operations. You get the fastest return in the
industry for your automation investment.
Easy Programming
Patented technology lets operators with no programming experience quickly set up and operate our robots with intuitive, 3D
visualization. Simply move the robot arm to desired waypoints or touch the arrow keys on the easy-to-use touchscreen tablet.
Fast Set-Up
Universal Robots has revolutionized robot set-up, reducing typical robotic deployment measured in weeks to a matter of hours.
The average set-up time reported by our customers is only half a day. The out-of-box experience for an untrained operator to
unpack the robot, mount it, and program the first simple task is typically less than an hour.
Fastest Payback in the Industry
Universal Robots gives you all the advantages of advanced robotic automation, with none of the traditional added costs
associated with robot programming, set-up, and dedicated, shielded work cells. Finally, robotic automation is affordable for even
small and medium sized enterprises.
Flexible Deployment
Don’t be limited by dedicated robotics. Universal Robots are lightweight, space-saving, and easy to re-deploy to multiple
applications without changing your production layout. Moving the robot to new processes is fast and easy, giving you the agility to
automate almost any manual task, including those with small batches or fast change-overs. The robot is able to re-use programs
for recurrent tasks.
Collaborative & Safe
Now you can replace human operators in dirty, dangerous, and dull jobs to reduce repetitive strain and accidental injuries. Eighty
percent of the thousands of UR robots worldwide operate with no safety guarding (after risk assessment), right beside human
operators. The safety system of our robots is approved and certified by TÜV (The German Technical Inspection Association).
Modular design
The design of the robot minimizes the risk of production downtime. In the event of any malfunction or defect, the robot is quickly
and easily fixed thanks to its modular construction.
Danish Design
Modern, sleek design. Looks as good as it works. User Interface in 20 languages.
PRESS KIT
Awards
List of prizes awarded to Universal Robots:
2017
• Ranked #2 on Fast Company's list of "Most Innovative Robotics Companies 2017".
2016
• "First Team" award in the "Robotics" category, nominated by readers of Automation World.
• The UR3 receives the MM Innovation Award 2016 in the category “industrial robots.”
• Universal Robots receives the FSR Business Award which is granted to a person, an organization or a company, who has
performed a unique effort in Danish Business.
• Universal Robots receives the “Best Robotics Revolution Award” at the Electronics Maker 2016 event in India.
• Universal Robots recognized as the Best Robotics Provider at the Asian Manufacturing Awards 2016.
• UR3 wins the Control Engineering 2016 Engineers’ Choice Awards program in the Motion Control category.
• CTO and founder Esben Østergaard is awarded the Danish Tietgen Prize for innovative business results contributing to the
greater good of society.
• China Robot Industry’s Oscar: “GG Robot Cobot Segment Technology Innovation Award” & “GG Robot Best Innovation
Multinational Enterprise Award”.
2015
• National Champion representing Denmark in the 2015/16 European Business Awards “The UKTI Award for Innovation”
• Universal Robots receives the Danish award for fast growth “Digital Gazelle 2015”
• Best Robotics Provider at the Asian Manufacturing Awards 2015
• Ranked #25 on MIT Technology Review’s list of the 50 Smartest Companies 2015
http://www.technologyreview.com/lists/companies/2015/
2014
• Universal Robots received the innovation prize at the Portuguese EMAF exhibition in Oporto November 2014.
2013
• In the U.S., the UR5 robot wins the RoboBusiness 2013 Game Changer Award in Human-Machine Interaction
• Universal Robots receives the Metalworking Industry Outstanding Suppliers Awards, awarded by the Ringier Trade Media China
• UR5 & UR10 receives the Good Design Award 2013 from the Japan Institute of Design Promotion
• The robot UR10 is named the most innovative product in Denmark and wins the InnovationSTORM 2013 award.
• Universal Robots wins the Gold Award for Innovative Product on the 12th China (Shandong) Int’l Industrial Automation and
Applied Technology Exhibition
• Universal Robots is named one of Denmark’s 30 most important export companies and thus included in the “ExportCanon”
• CTO and founder Esben Østergaard, wins DIRA Automation Award 2013
• Universal Robots wins Best Robotics Provider 2013 in Asian Manufacturing Awards.
• Universal Robot wins the national Growth Prize, “DI Entrepreneurship Award” awarded by The Confederation of Danish Industry
(DI).
• Readers of Control Engineering magazine name the UR10 “Product of the Year" in the category “Robots and Manipulators”
2012
• Universal Robots receives the “Invention and Entrepreneurship Award”, awarded by IEEE Robotics, Automation Society and IFR.
2010
• Universal Robots wins England's “MWP Award” for Best Automation System.