Welcome to robot city
Published on: 2025-07-14 08:00:00
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 shipyar
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