Teradyne merges two robotics firms to create full stable of rolling AMRs

Two autonomous mobile robot (AMR) vendors have merged into a single unit, saying that the combination of Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based AutoGuide Mobile Robots and the Danish industrial automation firm Mobile Industrial Robots ApS (MiR) will expand both firms’ product portfolios and simplify customer automation projects.

The combination was not surprising, since both firms were already owned by industrial automation equipment vendor Teradyne Inc., which had acquired MiR in 2018 for $272 million and AutoGuide in 2019 for $165 million.

As a combined unit the new entity will be known by the Mobile Industrial Robot (MiR) name and be led by long-time Teradyne executive Walter Vahey. Its headquarters will be in Odense, Denmark, where MiR has managed its global operations since its launch in 2013.

One of the first effects of the merger will be to create a bigger stable of roaming AMRs for the new firm to develop and sell. Prior to the merge, MiR offered a range of AMRs capable of carrying payloads and pallets up to 3000 pounds. By combining with AutoGuide, that portfolio will now expand to include high payload AMR tuggers and forklifts that will operate on a common fleet management software, known as MiRFleet.

According to Vahey, that move will allow MiR to meet growing customer demand for a line of internal logistics vehicles that span low, medium, and high payloads to automate material transport throughout the value chain.

In fact, as sibling firms under the Teradyne umbrella, the two companies had already been working together to develop a method for their AMRs to operate on the same fleet management software. “This close collaboration accelerated the merger. Being one organization helps ensure we deliver a broad AMR product line operating on a common fleet software to our customers,” Vahey said in a release.