Top French robotics firm goes into liquidation
Aldebaran, a French company that blazed the trail in the field of 'empathetic' humanoid robots in the late 2000s, has been put into liquidation, local media has reported. The tech pioneer was placed into bankruptcy proceedings in January, and then in receivership the following month.
On Monday, the receiver, along with the auctioneer, announced the 'immediate cessation of activity' and termination of their contracts to the company's remaining 106 employees, according to Othman Meslouh, deputy secretary of Aldebaran's social and economic committee (CSE). The Paris Commercial Court passed the verdict earlier in the day.
The receiver is now expected to start selling off the company's profitable assets, including its patents, to settle Aldebaran's outstanding debts that have exceeded €60 million ($68 million).
In recent months, two takeover contenders, Franco-Swiss businessman Jean-Marie Van Appelghem and Canadian investor Malik Bachouchi, had made bids for the company. However, the former's overture was not backed by the receiver and Aldebaran's management, while the latter was rejected by the court, as Bachouchi earlier told Le Monde.
From 2012 to 2022 – considered the company's heyday – it was owned by Japan's Softbank Robotics Group. Some time after it was acquired by the German company United Robotics Group (URG), a subsidiary of the RAG-Stiftung, the situation began to deteriorate, according to Meslouh.
He told AFP that the new owner 'no longer wanted to invest in the company.' This claim was echoed by another anonymous employee cited by Le Monde, who said URG 'asked us to be profitable within two years' even though development 'cycles take five to seven years.' The unnamed engineer also lamented that the owner had underinvested in Aldebaran's research and development.
In the late 2000s, the company rolled out Nao, its first humanoid robot, touted as a 'versatile educational companion, widely used in classrooms and research labs for its ability to teach programming, foster social learning, and support research projects.' The model was followed by Plato, designed to support healthcare and hospitality environments, and Pepper, capable of recognizing and responding to human emotions and specifically tailored for customer-facing roles.
According to the company's website, its robots have found application in more than 70 countries over the years. However, the total number of units sold was a mere 30,000, L'Express estimated.
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