Maxtronics announces the return of the humanoid robot NAO, thereby ensuring the continued availability of one of the most important education and research platforms in the field of humanoid robotics in German-speaking countries. By taking over sales, service and training offerings, educational institutions, universities, research laboratories and healthcare facilities will once again have a reliable contact for NAO.
History of the NAO
NAO was developed by the French robotics company Aldebaran Robotics in the mid-2000s and was first introduced to the public in 2006. In 2007, NAO became the official standard platform of RoboCup and in the following years, with several generations (including NAO Next Gen, NAO Evolution and NAO V6), it developed into one of the best-known humanoid robots for educational and research purposes worldwide.
With the takeover of Aldebaran by the Japanese SoftBank Group, NAO became part of SoftBank Robotics and was further rolled out internationally. Later, the European robotics business with NAO and its sister robot Pepper was gradually transferred to the German United Robotics Group, which repositioned Aldebaran as a brand and used NAO primarily as a service and educational robot in Europe.
Why the change in distribution took place
As part of strategic realignments, previous owners reduced their involvement in the area of humanoid robotics, partially stopped production and focused more on other business areas. This resulted in NAO’s market presence being weakened and many users experiencing uncertainty regarding availability, spare parts and technical support.
However, educational institutions and research laboratories in particular rely on a long-term available and supported platform. Due to the resulting gap in sales and service, there was a lack of a central, reliable contact person in many places. This is exactly where Maxtronics comes in, taking over the structured sales of NAO in German-speaking countries and ensuring the sustainable use of the platform with clearly defined service, maintenance and training services.
NAO today: profile and areas of application
NAO is an interactive, autonomous and fully programmable humanoid robot with a human-like shape, diverse sensors, cameras, microphones and numerous degrees of freedom. The platform enables realistic human-robot interactions and is used worldwide to teach programming, robotics, artificial intelligence and social interaction – from schools and universities to laboratories to therapeutic and nursing facilities.
Due to NAO’s long market presence, there is a broad ecosystem of software libraries, teaching materials, research projects and best practice scenarios. Maxtronics builds on this ecosystem and supports users in continuing existing installations and building new projects without having to change platforms.
Role and achievements of Maxtronics
As part of NAO’s “comeback”, Maxtronics is taking over the following in German-speaking countries:
Advice, configuration and delivery of new NAO systems for education, research and therapy. Technical support, maintenance, fault diagnosis, spare parts supply and repair coordination for existing NAO fleets. Training, workshops and didactic support for teachers, researchers and therapeutic professionals in order to meaningfully integrate NAO into teaching, research and practice.
In doing so, Maxtronics creates new planning security for everyone who already uses NAO or would like to use it in the future, and strengthens NAO’s role as a stable, future-proof platform in humanoid education and service robotics.
Company profile
“By reviving NAO, we are giving schools, universities, research institutions and therapy partners the security of being able to rely on an established humanoid platform – today and in the future,” explains a spokesman for Maxtronics. NAO is intended to serve as a key technology to build robotics and AI skills in a practical way and at the same time enable innovative applications in inclusion, assistance and therapy.
About Maxtronics
Maxtronics is a provider specializing in humanoid and educational robotics. The company sells the humanoid robot NAO for professional users in education, research and healthcare and combines many years of experience in robotics integration, training and service. Maxtronics’ goal is to offer users a stable, reliable and long-term available platform for demanding humanoid robotics projects.
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