Crow inc. is a technology company founded in 1999 by Ian Crow in The City. Beginning as a manufacturer of robotic arms, the company have recently branched out into other areas of robotics.
Crow have been the subject of multiple controversies relating to data theft and unethical treatment of robots. However, they remain the most popular robotics manufacturer worldwide.
Crow was founded by Ian Crow in 1999. The company was formed in order to market and sell his invention, the ARIEL robotic arm. Crow had previously worked as a mechanical engineer and developed ARIEL in his spare time. Unlike previous robotic arms on the market, ARIEL utilised primitive artificial intelligence to improve decision making and object recognition in the manufacturing process. This unique selling point was the main contributor to the company’s early success.
In 2005 they unveiled the ARIEL II, which allowed workers to directly communicate with the robot to diagnose problems and propose improvements to the production line.
In 2008 Ian Crow retired from his position as CEO. His son took over the position.
Under the new leadership, the company unveiled plans to develop humanoid, social robots. In a February 2008 interview, Crow executives explained that this pivot was due to increasing competition in the industrial robot marketplace.
ARIEL stands for
Articulated
Rotating
Intelligent
Electric
Limb. The machines stand at roughly 6 feet tall and can be equipped with a variety of attachments to assist with the manufacturing process.