Barrett Technology Inc, previously dba Barrett Communciations Inc, is a spin-off from the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is responsible for the design, manufacturing, and sale of robots that are intended to work closely with people. In the special Millennium Edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, Barrett Technology is credited as the creator of the worlds most advanced robotic arm. The firm has developed a 7-axis robotic arm, named the WAM Arm, for Whole Arm Manipulation. The arm is based on Puck Electronics and mechanical drive technologies and designed to interact directly with people. One application of an early version of the technology has been the arm manufactured and sold by MAKO Surgical to enable haptically guided, minimally invasive knee surgery. Another product developed by the firm, the BarrettHand, is a multi-fingered programmable grasper that is dexterous enough to secure target objects of different sizes, shapes, and orientations. The product has a low weight (980 grams), compact base (25mm) and is totally self-contained. Using industry-standard serial communications allows integration with any arm to be fast and simple. The company is also the parent of a high-tech unit involved in factory automation. Barrett Technology has pioneered core technology relating to flexibility in articulated arms and hands. Barrett realigned its mission and corporate structure to improve responsiveness towards industrial and commercial applications that can benefit from versatile and people-compatible robotic manipulators. Barretts WAM arm and BarrettHand products can be found operating in 18 countries and 6 continents around the globe today.
