Kickstart: Rethink's robots ready to say hello again

The company that popularized collaborative robots (cobots) by adding a screen with a happy animated "face" will reopen for business.

Rethink Robotics Inc. will relaunch itself at the 2024 International Manufacturing Technology Show Sept. 9-14 in Chicago.

Rethink opened in 2008 and brought two cobots with personality to the market: Baxter and Sawyer. The company closed in 2018 and its technology was purchased by Germany's Hahn Group GmbH.

"The new robots that will be unveiled at IMTS have been significantly upgraded with improved design, as well as more reliable and robust hardware, resulting in increased precision, speed and reliability, making them far more capable for industrial applications," Rethink said in a news release.

The company website is fairly bare bones at this point, but Rethink says it will show an autonomous mobile robot, a mobile manipulator platform and "a family of [cobots] designed to reliably handle a range of payloads from 6 to 30 kilograms."

Plastics industry trade groups have some disagreements with California policymakers, unsurprisingly. The biggest issue at hand right now is an ongoing investigation from Attorney General Rob Bonta over whether the industry deceived the public through statements about recycling.

Plastics News' Steve Toloken has a story from a hearing with a federal judge this week over whether the industry can block access from the state to trade group records and data.

But that doesn't mean they can't find some common ground.

The Plastics Industry Association issued a news release Aug. 29 saying it "commends" the state for its plan to investment in 250 recycling sites across 30 counties.

"We believe investing in recycling infrastructure and advancing new technologies is the most effective path forward. Making recycling easier is key to increasing recycling rates," association President and CEO Matt Seaholm said in the release.

"[The industry] remains committed to working together with lawmakers in California and across the U.S. to develop and enact effective policies that will protect our environment and get recycling rates where we all want them to be."

Yeti helped make ice chests and coolers, well, cool.

The brand that launched in Texas in the early 2000s has redefined coolers as a status symbol rather than basic piece of camping equipment.

I'm not sure, though, about what Yeti is highlighting with its new cross-brand marketing with the water company Liquid Death, which is known for using cans rather than plastic bottles for its products. Our sister paper Advertising Age writes that Yeti and Liquid Death are promoting the "casket cooler," an 85-pound, nearly 7-foot-long cooler made to resemble a casket that can hold 378 cans of Liquid Death, not including ice.

"It took two months to create the single casket cooler, which will be auctioned off," Ad Age writes. Bidding starts at $1,500.