OnRobot (onrobot.com) has acquired Purple Robotics, which developed the world’s first vacuum gripper specifically for cobots. The acquisition takes place two months after the OnRobot merger of three robotics companies from the United States, Hungary and Denmark that created one global player with a strong focus on the market for industrial robot accessories.

Purple Robotics was established by Lasse Kieffer, Henrik Tillitz Hansen and Peter Nadolny Madsen, all of whom have a background as product developers at Universal Robots, the company behind the world’s first cobot. OnRobot is now infusing this valuable expertise into its own existing R&D department at its headquarters in Odense, Denmark.

Lasse Kieffer, Purple Robotics CEO, looks forward to joining the OnRobot organization together with his colleagues. “It has been really good fun to create a brand new robotics company and to disrupt the market for vacuum grippers with our invention," he said. “It makes a lot of sense and creates significant synergy to join forces with OnRobot, which has already created a strong, global sales organization. This means that we can focus 100 percent on developing the world’s coolest robotics products. Together, we can go far.”