Baxter was the collaborative robot introduced by Rethink Robotics in 2012.
Designed by Rodney Brooks and his team, Baxter was intended to work near people in manufacturing and research settings. Its two arms, expressive face display, and relatively simple teaching process distinguished it from conventional industrial robots, which were commonly separated from workers by safety barriers.
Operators could guide Baxter’s arms by hand to demonstrate a task. The robot then repeated the programmed sequence while using sensors to detect contact and nearby people. This approach made it suitable for low-volume or frequently changing production work, although its speed and precision were below those of many traditional factory robots.
Rethink Robotics later developed Sawyer, a smaller one-armed collaborative robot. Baxter was discontinued after the company ceased operations in 2018, but its design helped popularize the idea of robots intended to share workspaces with human employees.