The way Don Dagen sees it, robotics is about to have its Macintosh moment, with the new affordable and versatile Baxter robot. “There is almost giddiness in the robotics industry,” says Dagen, business development manager for ONExia Inc. in West Chester.
ONExia is one of nine exclusive distributors for Baxter, made by Rethink Robotics in Boston and headed by Rodney Brooks, a co-creator of the popular Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner.
Baxter is a game changer, says Dagen, because, unlike most robotics that serves heavy industry, it is suitable for discrete part handling, loading/unloading lines, machine tending and light assembly operations. Think small and medium-sized operations such as injection molding, print and silkscreen shops. It sells for only about $30,000 and like the Mac, it can be up and running in an hour.
Baxter will enable ONExia to “serve a customer base we don't have right now,” says Dagen, who anticipates that the new line could be their top seller within a year. It also offers the potential for ONExia to create custom automation, which could be sold nationally.
Dagen anticipates that Baxter will result in four new sales positions at ONExia, which has about 33 in its workforce, including mechanical and electrical engineers, programmers, technicians and salespeople.
Besides serving as a manufacturers' representative for robots and robotic components, ONExia also services and programs the products it sells and has a integration group that does contract manufacturing, substituting for full in-house engineering departments, which fewer companies maintain anymore.
The company was founded in 1984 and changed its name to ONExia in 2001.
Source: Don Dagen, ONExia
Writer: Elise Vider