A Colorado startup that spun out of Sphero and has been making at-home robots for people since 2017 was acquired by an international robotics company this week.
Boulder-based Misty Robotics announced that it has been acquired by Furhat Robotics, a Swedish company that has created theadvanced social robot "Furhat." Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed but Misty’s Boulder location will serve as the U.S. headquarters for Furhat.
Misty Robotics was founded in 2017 after it spun out of Sphero, where it was known as the company’s advanced robotics division. At the time, Sphero co-founder and CTO Ian Bernstein led Misty and was joined by Tim Enwall.
Since its founding, Misty has been making personal robots intended for use within homes and offices. For example, the company launched a temperature-checking robot during Covid-19 that was used to screen employees at their workplace.
The Temperature Screening Assistant for the Misty II robot comes with a thermal imaging camera, with accuracy within +/- 0.5 C, an interactive health question survey, immediate pass/fail result determination and recording, configurable SMS and/or email notifications and web-based administration and reporting.
With this acquisition, Misty is set to help Furhat accelerate the development of its next-generation social robots.
“We couldn’t have found a better company to join forces with than Furhat Robotics,” said Misty Robotics Founder Ian Bernstein, in a statement. “We both share the vision of robots in all of our lives, robots helping with not only the dull, difficult, and dangerous tasks but ones that become our companions and make technology more accessible. Samer [Al Moubayed, Furhat CEO] and the entire team at Furhat are incredibly talented and I’m confident that together we will be able to greatly accelerate the field of social robotics based on the combined work of both teams.”
Since the launch of its first robot in 2014, Furhat Robotics has seen a yearly growth of sold robots within both academia and the corporate sector. The company works with U.S. brands including Disney, Intel, Accenture and Facebook, as well as academic institutions including Stanford, Northeastern and many others.
The company is most known for its social robot that features a highly expressive and customizable face.
Al Moubayed, Furhat's CEO and co-founder, said the acquisition was an exciting moment for the social robotics industry.
“We know that the next few years will be pivotal for our dream to bring social robots closer to people’s lives,” he said in a statement. “This rare event in bringing together the forces of two of the leading social robotics companies in the world is going to give us much stronger capabilities to move faster towards that dream. What Ian, Tim, and the team have built, during a few very difficult years under Covid, is a huge feat, and having them join Furhat is game changing for us.”
With the acquisition, Misty will maintain its presence in Boulder and Bernstein and Enwall will join Furhat’s advisory board.
