A cobot arm delivers a shuttle to a player during the Denmark Open. — City of Odense
Two-time Olympic Games champion Viktor Axelsen is probably the world’s best singles badminton player now. He makes no mistakes, and some of his moves are almost inhuman.
You could say he is almost like a robot.
It’s no wonder, really. After all, he grew up in Odense, one of the world’s leading robotics cities. Badminton and robotics make for a good mix in Odense, and it was obvious at the recent Denmark Open.
The badminton tournament saw a strong presence of cobots – short for collaborative robots – blending technology and tradition to transport attendees into a futuristic world where humans and robots worked side by side.
Players received shuttlecocks from a cobot arm during the semi-finals and finals. Self-driving mobile robots carried their bags for them.
Fans also had the opportunity to interact with the robots. They were welcomed by a talking service robot and received game programmes from a self-driving mobile robot. Some were even seen playing table tennis and other games against robots.
Adults got their beers from a cobot arm while young kindergarten children had a ball playing games with small and cute machines.
Children playing games with robots during the Denmark Open. — City of Odense
But it’s not all fun and games. These robots are some of the world’s most recognised, working alongside humans in daily life, assisting with repetitive and strenuous tasks. They can transport blood samples in hospitals; weld, screw and palletise at factories; and paint on construction sites.
In Odense, there are more than 160 robotics companies, with over 3,600 employees. It is quite impressive considering Odense’s population of just 200,000.
Universal Robots (UR), Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), OnRobot, Autonomous Units and Odense Robotics were among the robotic companies in Odense that participated in the Denmark Open, thanks to a collaboration with the City of Odense, Destination Fyn, Denmark Badminton and Invest in Odense.
Thinggaard stresses the vital role of mobile robots in customising screen content to suit customer preferences. — Autonomous Units
Flemmings Kjaer Thinggard, the founder and CEO of Autonomous Units, was thrilled to be part of the tournament. He knew his audience was not only from the Danish market but viewers from countries with big populations like China, Indonesia, India, Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia who are crazy about the sport.
“Our mobile robots combine different content on the screen as to how and where our customers want it, and it’s great to be at the Denmark Open, a perfect platform with a huge following. We also have them in malls and airports,” said Thinggard.
“We are building a platform with robots in Denmark, Scandinavian countries and Europe. We hope to go to Asia and make a model that works well with customers.”
Robotics revolution
It all started in the 1980s, when Odense’s shipyard looked for welding solutions to keep up with competition. They were eager to venture into flexible welding, a field that did not exist at that time.
Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller collaborated with the University of Southern Denmark to develop a solution, marking the start of a strong partnership. Together, they identified companies to support the development of welding robots and initiated funding, leading to the establishment of the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute at the university.
This collaboration enabled them to educate future robotics engineers and develop international, high-class research centres, which became the backbone of the robotics ecosystem established in the 1990s.
Ostergaard said robots can address the world's challenges while staying profitable. — Visti Unlimited
UR founders Esben Ostergaard, Kasper Stoy and Kristian Kassow were among the university students who dedicated countless hours in the university basement and eventually launched cobots into the market, claiming to be the first to do so in 2008.
According to Ostergaard, they were driven and ambitious.
“I spent 15 years in university in robotics, three years working at creating UR, which became very big. Did I know it would grow big? Yes, I believed in it. In fact, we thought we could change the world, and we did,” said Ostergaard.
The company was sold to Teradyne for US$285mil in 2015, and UR’s sister company, MiR, was purchased in 2018 by the same US company.
It’s not surprising that Ostergaard faced challenges before UR and MiR became leading companies in the robotics industry.
“We ran out of money and could not pay our partners and the bills. We went half a year without paying salaries, people wanted to file for bankruptcy. We didn’t give up, but those hard lessons taught us to become better at it.”
Ten years after the first launch, UR’s new generation of cobots – the e-Series – debuted at the Automatica show in Munich, Germany, with the company promising even faster development and deployment.
Ostergaard received the Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Award – also known as the Nobel Prize of robotics. He has since left UR and is now an investor promoting robotics and sustainability together with his wife from India.
“We have a robot company, and we want to leave a positive impact on the world,” adding that robots are now performing tasks previously done by divers, such as repairing ship propellers in deep waters.
“Robots can make a big difference. We solve the world’s problems through robots and be profitable too,” said Ostergaard, who is also helping to build the Odense Robotics community, creating jobs for small businesses and empowering many along the way.
Visti advises young robotics enthusiasts to think globally, understand their market, and build the right team and investor network. — Visti Unlimited
Thomas Visti, who was the former chief operating officer for UR before becoming CEO at MiR, is also an investor now and known as the man with the Midas touch.
“I honestly never thought that we would be where we are today. In fact, nobody in Denmark thought there would be a market for cobots, but I believed in the product. I had it in my hands and felt the potential and never stopped believing,” he said.
“I run my startup community now with 35 smaller companies. I have invested in some and try to guide the others, especially the youngsters,” Visti said.
His advice for young robotics enthusiasts and entrepreneurs is: “You have to find your market, understand it and start doing it as a global product. We knew Denmark was small for us and thought big and beyond. You must assemble the right team, the right investors, and someone who can guide you.”
While Ostergaard and Visti are active as investors, UR and MiR are continuing to set new milestones with artificial intelligence (AI) integration.
Children playing game at one of the Autonomous Units during the Denmark Open. — City of Odense
They now share a sprawling headquarters in the City of Odense which opened in May. It spans 20,000sq miles (51,800sq km) and is designed to accommodate 600 employees from both companies, facilitating seamless cross-collaboration.
Anders Billeso Beck, who is UR’s vice president of technology, said the potential for growth is endless.
Beck highlights the importance of solving customer challenges, prioritising value over technology. — Universal Robots
“Since Teradyne acquired UR in 2015 and MiR in 2018, we now have a shared parent. We’re still two separate companies, but it’s now consolidated into one unit, under one building, which makes it easier to access functions like finance, legal, etc,” said Beck.
“We also wanted to create an inspirational place to develop the robot technology of tomorrow, bringing our engineers closer together to have more diversity of thinking and share ideas and collaborate. Talent breeds talent.
“My goal is to bring new technology into the products and have more tech-based business transformation. Robotics is still in this place where we are faced with many technical problems that need to be solved, and there is still work to do to get it out to people and make a difference in their lives,” he said.
Accelerating automation
Beck wants to offer automation for anyone, anywhere, and he believes there is a need to create more awareness to achieve that.
“We need more turnkey solutions, and we need to have this seen as a mainstream technology for people to adopt.
Cobots are used in industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, logistics and automotive. — Universal Robots
“We need to understand customer pains and work hard on solving them. It’s not about the tech itself, it’s about creating customer value.
“Openness is the key. Robotics of the past were very closed and proprietary, but no single company in the world today can rule the whole area of robotics, you need multiple companies to collaborate.
“We are working actively with more than 1,200 companies that are making their living out of working with our robot platforms, selling our robots and integrating with our robots.’
“We have the ambition to become a bigger company. The need for robotics in the world is huge.
“We are looking at a declining workforce and lower birth rates all around, and ageing societies in many parts of the world.
“Manufacturing is struggling without a young workforce, so we have a lot of societal problems that we have to cure, so we are just getting started,” said Beck.
In a bid to further enhance collaboration with others, City of Odense hosted three different international robotics conferences under its Week of Robotics Series, which were attended by 1,200 robotics experts from all over the world.
Kristensen fosters collaboration by establishing an incubator for robotic startups, offering mentorship and guidance for one to two years. — Odense Robotics
Odense Robotics CEO Soren Elmer Kristensen’s task is just that – to bring people together through robotics, both locally and globally, and make Danish robot solutions visible.
“Our role is to accelerate sustainable growth, innovation and collaboration in Danish robotics,” said Kristensen, who handles the Danish national cluster for the robot, drone and automation industry.
“My job is to bring people together, make them work together and bring new innovation into life, and also ensure that the innovation goes to the market.
“Odense Robotics is a cluster organisation with 360 members, mainly companies. The ecosystem consists of many actors, like talents from universities and education institutions and early startups.
“We have collaborations with other partners by setting up an incubator for robot startups for one to two years under mentors and advisors, so that they will have access to facilities such as equipment and also experts.”
“We are not selling robots, we are creating connections. We provide the support and platform, but our members will do their own business, independent of us.
“It’s like how we connected robotics, which is the city’s strength, to Denmark Open badminton. It’s an ecosystem branding, where the end users who watched the game will know Denmark as a technology nation.
“We hope to be the bridge that connects people to opportunities, relations, and collaborations in finding robotics solutions. We have the knowledge and we want to share, and those that need some guidance or advice, just call us,” he said.
This spirit of collaboration and innovation is precisely what sets Denmark apart in the field of robotics.
If the famous Odense-born fairytale storyteller Hans Christian Andersen were alive in this era – he would probably write about its transformation.
The Steadfast Tin Soldier might just morph into The Steadfast Robot Soldier, who would fall in love with a mechanical badminton player.
