Boston Dynamics Opens First European Office Ahead of Stretch Robot Debut

Boston Dynamics is opening an office in Frankfurt, Germany – its first in Europe.

The site, which is co-located at the Hyundai WIA headquarters, will provide local sales, services, and field application engineering support to Boston Dynamics’ European customer base.

The company’s robot dog, Spot, is seeing increasing deployment by European clients including the Otto Group, BMW Group, BASF and the Hamburg Port Authority. While industrial inspections and preventive maintenance tasks make up the majority of Spot’s work, Boston Dynamics said it is also being used to create digital twins and help first responders safely assess potentially hazardous situations.

The new office will provide these customers with on-the-ground hardware and technical support for Spot, as well as collaboration opportunities with customers and partners on field applications from initial pilots to scaled deployments.

Boston Dynamics said it is gearing up for its box-moving warehouse robot, Stretch, to make its European debut next year, with the company saying it is “starting to prepare” for its arrival.

“Europe is one of the fastest growing regions for our robots, and building more localized service and support infrastructure is critical to Boston Dynamics’ continued growth in this market,” said Marc Theermann, Boston Dynamics’ chief strategy officer. “We expect our teams will benefit from closer collaboration and strategic alignment on future robotics efforts in the region, and we could not ask for a better home for our European operations than to be co-located with the Hyundai Motor team in the heart of Germany.”

Related:Boston Dynamics Robots to Increase Efficiencies at Otto Group Facilities

The new office is expected to be fully operational sometime in October, with plans to expand staff members and its local repair and servicing capabilities in the months and years ahead.