Teradyne has appointed its new president of Universal Robots, naming Kim Povlsen as the man to lead the company’s next stage of growth and innovation, and starting his new role at the head office in Denmark on 1 March.
Universal Robots was founded in 2005 to make robot technology accessible to all by developing small, user-friendly, reasonably priced, flexible collaborative robots (cobots) that are safe to work side-by-side with people.
“Povlsen combines a fantastic track record as a dynamic executive with a background in and a tremendous passion for robotics,” says Greg Smith, president of Terradyne’s Industrial Automation Group and acting president of Universal Robots.
“With Povlsen on board, Universal Robots is poised to strengthen its leadership in the global market for cobots. With his leadership, we can accelerate the growth in new applications and market growth or cobots.”
Povlsen brings global executive leadership from a high-tech and commercial perspective, previously holding various executive business and technology leadership roles at Schneider Electric, most recently serving as its vice-president for strategy and technology.
“The company represents the pinnacle of innovation and potential and I was thrilled to be approached for this unique leadership role,” says Povlsen.
“The company not only pioneered the category of collaborative robots (cobots), created an eco-system of partner technology solutions and a vast global distribution network to serve customers in their varied industrial automation needs, it also has the potential to fundamentally reshape automation cross the global economy.”
According to James McKew, regional director for Universal Robots Asia-Pacific, this announcement is of great significance to subsidiaries across the globe as the company looks to strengthen all of its market positions.
