Universal Robot Receives New President

Universal Robot’s owner Teradyne Inc. announced that Kim Povlsen has been appointed president of the Danish maker of collaborative robots effective March 1. Both companies positioned the move as part of Boston-based Teradyne’s intention to keep true to the Danish cobot suppliers roots by hiring, Povlsen, a Danish native.

In a release, Greg Smith, president of Teradyne’s Industrial Automation Group, and acting president of Universal Robots, highlighted the cobot maker’s Danish roots. “Universal Robots was one of the original companies at the core of the Odense, Denmark innovation hub for robotics,” Smith said, “and our global customers recognize the innovation and quality of that Danish heritage. I’m thrilled to have a Danish executive who can build on our achievements and support the further development of our robotics hub and headquarters in Odense.”

Povlsen, who lives in Aarhus, Denmark and holds a master’s degree in Computer Science & Embedded Engineering from the University of Southern Denmark, comes to Universal Robot from Schneider Electric where he most recently served as VP global technology strategy.