In January, humanoid robot company said it had no team in Beijing; in February, Telida Robotics laid off 10% of the world’s workforce. Terrida has universal robots (Universal Robots A / S) and mobile robots (Mobile Industrial Robots ApS), a leading developer of collaborative robot arms and autonomous mobile robots, respectively.
It is unclear exactly how many employees were affected by the restructuring. However, Teradyne Robotics said on its website that it has more than 1,400 employees worldwide. The 10% includes 6% of the layoffs at the Danish headquarters.
“Overall, the robotics industry is going through a difficult period.” said Ujjwal Kuma, group president of Teradyne Robotics
More than 10 robotics companies are being involved in a storm of layoffs
At the beginning of 2025, two layoffs at robot companies poured cold water on the industry, and when we look back at 2024, the layoffs in the robotics industry are also turbulent. According to incomplete statistics, in 2024, more than 10 robot companies have been involved in the layoffs storm, involving a large number of employees and affecting a wide range of areas.
In the field of warehousing robots, in January 2024, Locus Robotics, a famous warehousing robot company, confirmed the rumor of layoffs, adjusted the sales and marketing organizations and carried out small-scale layoffs. The specific number of layoffs was not disclosed. In addition, there are a number of warehouse robot enterprises have also reported the news of layoffs, they are facing multiple pressures such as capital shortage and intensified market competition, layoffs have become their helpless move to seek survival and development.
In humanoid robotics, in March 2024, humanoid robotics company Agility Robotics confirmed the layoff of a “small number” of employees. The company said the decision is part of the company’s commercialization effort. Similarly, in December, Boston Dynamics, a world-renowned humanoid robot developer, unexpectedly announced a 5 percent layoff involving 45 employees. It is worth noting that the cuts are not for specific business branches, but “cover all sectors”. As a “star enterprise” in the field of humanoid robots, Boston Dynamics has been attracting much attention, and its technical strength can not be underestimated. However, in the face of “excessive capital consumption” and fierce competitive pressure from companies like Tesla and the difficulty to translate media attention into real profits, Boston Dynamics had to make a difficult decision to cut jobs and urgently needed to streamline operations to achieve sustainable growth.
In the field of cleaning robots, sweeping robot company iRobot is also struggling with layoffs. On November 5,2024, iRobot had to announce an operational restructuring plan, which expects to cut about 105 people, or 16% of the total workforce. Previously, iRobot also cut jobs in November 2023, cutting about 100 employees, or 8% of the total workforce. The reason is that the increasing market competition is the main reason for iRobot’s layoffs, while Amazon’s abandonment of the iRobot acquisition plan is the “trigger” for the layoffs.
In the field of delivery robots and autonomous driving, some companies focused on indoor distribution and logistics automation are also not immune, cutting workers to cut costs due to tight capital chains or shrinking market demand.
In addition, some job platforms have reported that humanoid robot company Datarrobot has also started layoffs in recent years. The above layoffs have brought a large impact to the entire robot industry, and further intensified the competitive pressure and uncertainty in the market.
Is the winter coming, or the darkness before the dawn?
Some people believe that the wave of layoffs is a signal that the robot industry is entering a cold winter. With the intensification of market competition, technical bottlenecks are difficult to break through. Some enterprises fall into difficulties because they are unable to adapt to market changes or technological iteration, and have to reduce costs and maintain operations through layoffs. The cold winter of the robot industry has arrived, and companies need to be prepared to get through this difficult time.
Others are optimistic that it is just pre-dawn darkness. They believe that the current wave of layoffs is the process of industry reshuffle, eliminate backward technology, insufficient competitiveness of the enterprise, for the real strength of the enterprise to make room for development. In the long run, despite the current challenges and difficulties, the potential and market demand for robotics are still huge. With the continuous progress of technology and the expansion of application scenarios, the robot industry is expected to usher in new development opportunities. Therefore, the current layoffs may be necessary adjustments made by enterprises to optimize the structure and improve efficiency to lay the foundation for rapid development in the future.
In any case, the layoffs reflect the complex situation and challenges facing the robotics industry. For practitioners, they need to maintain a keen insight and resilience, and actively respond to the challenges brought about by market changes and technological iterations. At the same time, we also need to maintain an optimistic attitude and a positive attitude, and we believe that the future of the robot industry is still full of hope and opportunities.
