Rethink Robotics Launches Intera 2.1 for Manufacturing Innovation

BOSTON, April 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Rethink Robotics today introduced Intera 2.1, the latest advance in the company's newly branded software platform that powers the Baxter robot to provide safe, reliable, easy-to-train automation for a wide range of manufacturing and production environments.  Intera 2.1 delivers significant improvements to the robot's speed, performance, flexibility and security, making Baxter up to two times faster, more precise and easier to train than with previous versions of the software.

Named to emphasize the interactive production capabilities of the robot, the Intera platform enables Rethink Robotics' mission to deliver sustained innovation through ongoing advances in software.  With Intera, new and existing Baxter customers can continuously enhance the value of their automation investments, with key features and functionality added regularly to the safe, affordable, user-trainable technology that helped launch a new era of manufacturing in 2012.  As a result, Intera helps customers to continually increase quality, productivity and profitability in their manufacturing operations. 

Intera 2.1 is the company's most advanced software release to date, with features informed by input from customers and partners which includes:

• Enhanced speed:  Existing Baxter hardware now works up to 2x faster on comparable tasks than with previous versions of the software.
• Motion presets allow users to balance speed and path requirements for a given task, providing increased flexibility to optimize how quickly or how precisely Baxter completes a task.  When defining waypoints, users now have three options:  
  • Balanced: Baxter follows its standard parameters for speed and precision
  • Explicit: Baxter follows the waypoints more precisely and in a controlled manner
  • Express: Waypoints are used as general guidelines to increase speed where extreme precision is not required  
• A nudge feature reduces training time and increases accuracy.  Users can now make slight adjustments to pick, place and hold positions using simple commands in the software, allowing training by demonstration to be easier and more precise.
• A lock and unlock feature increases security, with user-defined access to Baxter's task and training menu.  Access is controlled with a USB key, helping to prevent unauthorized or unintended edits to existing tasks. 

"To meet today's demanding market requirements and compete on a global playing field, manufacturers are looking to further optimize their production infrastructure," said Scott Eckert, CEO at Rethink Robotics.  "Interactive robot technologies like Baxter are redefining the modern workforce so that safe, affordable robots can work side by side with people to make companies of all sizes more competitive.  Intera provides the platform to drive this innovation," he remarked.

Rethink Robotics' customers agree.  "For us to remain competitive, we need to be using automation technologies that combine traditional reliability with modern flexibility and safety," said Pete Rector, Executive Vice President at GENCO, Pittsburgh, PA.  "Baxter with Intera allows us to utilize flexible automation in ways we never could before, at an affordable cost.  Baxter has had an immediate impact on our operational performance."

Intera 2.1 is now available from Rethink Robotics and its nationwide network of partners. For more information about Rethink Robotics, please visit www.rethinkrobotics.com or follow us on Twitter @rethinkrobotics.

Company Also Announces Software Advances for Baxter Research Robot
In addition to Intera 2.1, Rethink Robotics also announced today a new version of software for its Baxter Research Robot.  Now branded as SDK 1.0, the new release is a major step forward for the platform that is already a leading solution for corporate and academic research environments around the world.  Together, the two new software releases combine to further cement Rethink Robotics' position as a best-in-class provider of collaborative and research robot solutions.

About Rethink Robotics

Rethink Robotics, Inc. pioneered the field of human-safe collaborative robots.  The company's Baxter robots are changing the way humans and robots interact in manufacturing and research environments.

Its Baxter robot, driven by the industry's most advanced software platform, Intera, helps manufacturers meet the challenges of an agile economy with an integrated workforce, combining trainable, safe and cost-effective robots with skilled labor. Using Rethink robots as a workforce multiplier, world-class manufacturers and distributors in automotive, plastics, consumer goods, and other industries can increase flexibility, lower costs and invest in skilled labor. The end result: manufacturers are more competitive and become capable of fueling continuous innovation. 

For academic and corporate research environments, the Baxter Research Robot with SDK is a humanoid robot platform with integrated sensors and an open software development kit. Baxter Research Robot has become the industry standard choice of leading universities and corporate R&D teams for advancing the field of robotics innovation with custom applications.

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the company is funded by Bezos Expeditions, Charles River Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, Sigma Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Two Sigma Ventures.  For more information about Rethink Robotics, please visit www.rethinkrobotics.com.

CONTACT: Gil Haylon, 1-617-969-9192

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SOURCE Rethink Robotics, Inc.