That began to change with the partnership between the shipyard and the university. In the ’90s, that relationship got a big boost when the foundation behind the Mærsk shipping company funded the creation of the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Institute (MMMI), a center dedicated to studying autonomous systems. The Lindø shipyard eventually wound down its robotics program, but research continued at the MMMI. Students flocked to the institute to study robotics. And it was there that three researchers had the idea for a more lightweight, flexible, and easy-to-use industrial robot arm. That idea would become a startup called Universal Robots, Odense’s first big robotics success story. In 2015, the US semiconductor testing giant Teradyne acquired Universal Robots for $285 million. That was a significant turning point for robotics in the city. It was proof, says cofounder Kristian Kassow, that an Odense robotics company could make it without being tied to a specific project, like the previous shipyard work. It was a signal of legitimacy that attracted more recognition, talent, and investment to the local robotics scene.
Kim Povlsen, president and CEO of Universal Robots, says it was critical that Teradyne kept the company’s main base in Odense and maintained the Danish work culture, which he describes as nonhierarchical and highly collaborative. This extends beyond company walls, with workers generally happy to share their expertise with others in the local industry. “It’s like this symbiotic thing, and it works really well,” he says. Universal Robots positions itself as a platform company rather than just a manufacturer, inviting others to work with its tech to create robotic solutions for different sectors; the company’s robot arms can be found in car-part factories, on construction sites, in pharmaceutical laboratories, and on wine-bottling lines. It’s a growth play for the company, but it also offers opportunities to startups in the vicinity.
In 2018 Teradyne bought a second Odense robotics startup, Mobile Industrial Robots, which was founded by Jacobsen, the Star Wars fan who worked on the ship-welding robots in his university days. The company makes robots for internal transportation—for example, to carry pallets or tow carts in a warehouse. The sale has allowed Jacobsen to invest in other robotics projects, including Capra, a maker of outdoor mobile robots, where he is now CEO.
The success of these two large robotics companies, which together employ around 800 people in Odense, created a ripple effect, bringing both funding and business acumen into the robotics cluster, says Søren Elmer Kristensen, CEO of the government-funded organization Odense Robotics.
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