Former Boston Dynamics Engineer Jakob Welner Joins HIVE Robots as Chief Robotics Architect
Copenhagen, Denmark — HIVE today announced that Jakob Welner has joined as Chief Robotics Architect, taking technical lead of the engineering team.
Welner spent more than six years at Boston Dynamics on the Atlas controls team, working on one of the world's most advanced humanoid platforms. He brings an unusual background that combines mechanical engineering, computational biomechanics, and a decade in computer animation, building character motion by hand.
Welner developed a different vocabulary for movement through years of observing the world as an animator with the purpose of creating a realistic presence on screen. He then brings that sensitivity to the physical world and translates it directly into shaping advanced learned behavior on humanoid robots.
The appointment comes as HIVE advances its first commercial deployments, including an ongoing pilot with Danish retailer Føtex.
"Hiring Jakob is a strategic move to strengthen our positioning and shape the future of humanoid robots development in Europe. Our ambition is for HIVE to become the go-to place in Europe for humanoid robots that work alongside people, not in place of them, and Jakob's competencies makes him uniquely qualified for that vision."
— Charlotte Blou Sand, CEO and Co-founder at HIVE
"What Denmark has always been good at is collaborative robotics and a feel for how people and machines share a space. That instinct for the human side is what humanoids really need, and it is where my own background points most directly. Joining HIVE was the chance to work on the most meaningful engineering challenge in robotics, in a country with the robotics roots to do it."
— Jakob Welner, Chief Robotics Architect at HIVE
As Chief Robotics Architect, Welner will lead the technical direction of HIVE's platform and guide the engineering team.
About HIVE
HIVE builds software that enables humanoid robots to become a reliable workforce alongside existing employees. The company extends best-in-class humanoid hardware into a working and deployable platform that integrates directly with customer needs.