Analysis:
After two years of concept planning and development, in early 2017, MassRobotics officially opened an initial 15,000-sq. ft. robotics innovation center. Within the first six months, the facility attracted 18 startups  om around the US, which grew to 34 companies by mid-2019.

The MassRobotics expansion nearly doubles the size of the original workspace. The most critical driver for the success of MassRobotics initiative is the organization’s business model, in which resident startups are provided with much more than space to work.

Under the MassRobotics program, tenant companies have access to state-of-the-art electronic and mechanical prototyping labs, including a variety of 3D printers, soldering stations, oscilloscopes, laser cutter, mini-CNC, and other machine tools. The expanded space also includes industrial automation labs equipped with conveyor belts, a variety of robotic arms and other manufacturing technologies.

In addition, the center has common robotics platforms, from collaborative robot arms to autonomous mobile robots and even humanoids, that residents can borrow and experiment with. MassRobotics off ers its tenants CAD and other design and development tools  om vendors such as AutoDesk, SolidWorks, MathWorks, Amazon AWS and Google. Finally, MassRobotics’ expert staff can provide personal Introductions to investors, corporate partners, potential customers, manufacturers, and technical and business talent. - Dan Kara