Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), a leading developer of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), increased its sales by 55% in Q1 2021 over the same period for both 2020 and 2019. MiR’s sales totaled $14 million, and a large number of those sales were the MiR250, the company’s newest compact AMR.
Denmark-based MiR is owned by North Reading, Mass.-based Teradyne, which also owns AutoGuide Mobile Robots, Universal Robots and Energid. Overall revenue for Teradyne’s industrial automation group was $80 million for the quarter, a 33% increase year-over-year and 21% over Q1 2019. Teradyne said Q1 2021 was a record for the seasonally soft first quarter of the year.
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“Automation and digitalization are critical measures to strengthen manufacturing businesses during and after the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Søren E. Nielsen, president, Mobile Industrial Robots. “Consequently, many companies that successfully tested AMR solutions are returning for more and planning full-scale deployments of up to 50 robots to improve internal logistics and efficiency and enable their workers to focus on higher-value tasks.”
Nielsen became president of MiR on August 1, replacing co-founder and CEO Thomas Visti. Nielsen served as MiR’s chief technology officer since January 2018. Nielsen was the first-ever guest on The Mobile Robot Podcast. You can listen to that interview below.
MiR also said it is starting to see a positive shipment trend towards its higher-payload AMRs – the MiR500 and MiR1000. MiR said its Q1 orders show that industries such as automotive, consumer packaged goods, electronics and pharmaceuticals continue to automate internal transport with AMRs.
MiR said the COVID-19 pandemic also propelled the development and growth of cleaning modules for MiR robots as they are deployed to disinfect offices, hospitals, and other public places to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
Teradyne acquired MiR in 2018. To show the growth MiR has experienced since then, MiR was profitable in 2017 with annual revenue of $12 million, more than triple 2016 revenues.
You can read the full transcript of Teradyne’s Q1 2021 earnings call here.
