Robotshop

Founding

On 3 May 2002 Mario Tremblay, president and founder of RobotShop, spearheaded a project with two of his university colleagues to build a robotic lawn mower named "RoboR" and created RobotShop - Robotics at your Service - as a general/unlimited partnership. With the financial backing of the Centre de Développement Technique de l'École de Technologie Supérieure (ETS) de Montréal (Centech) they began building a prototype of the robotic lawn mower. In order to further finance research and development, RobotShop took on consultation and development work in general robotics for industrial and university clients.

Sandra Fradet joined Mario Tremblay end of 2003 to create RobotShop Distribution, and the previous unlimited partnership was dissolved. RobotShop was founded to distribute and sell robot parts and domestic robots. It was incorporated as RobotShop Distribution, Inc. and was renamed as RobotShop Inc. on January 4, 2016, to reflect the expansion of its activities in the service robotic market. Shortly after the deployment of the website, the first sales started to come in. In order to expand RobotShop they obtain encouragement from the Fond de Jeunesse Québec (FJQ), the Soutien aux Jeunes Entrepreneurs (SAJE) and also from the Fondation du Maire pour la Jeunesse de Montréal (FMMJ).

Expansion

After months of working out of their homes, RobotShop relocated in October 2005 to an 1,800-square-foot (170 m²) space in Boisbriand, Quebec and soon they hired their first employees. The company continues to grow rapidly following the strong growth of the domestic robotics market. The facilities were enlarged up to 6,000 square feet (560 m²) in 2008 to respond to the increasing demand and the need for additional employee space.

In July 2010, RobotShop acquired Gorobotics.net, a popular blog bloging about robots since 2000.

In July 2011, RobotShop moved in their new Headquarters in Mirabel offering 15,000 square feet (1,400 m²) of space. RobotShop now has a global logistic with warehouses in Canada, United-States and Europe.

In June 2012, RobotShop has been named one of PROFIT 200's Fastest-Growing Companies in Canada. Coming in at number 63, RobotShop has grown 843% in five years.

In August 2012, RobotShop acquires Lynxmotion inc. Lynxmotion design and manufacture a variety of hobby and research level robot kits and parts, and specialize in a modular robotics building system known as the Servo Erector Set. Lynxmotion also hosts an active online community forum of hobby roboticists at Lynxmotion.net where projects, code, and technology is shared and support is provided for products.

In June 2013, RobotShop Secures An Additional 100 000 sq. ft of Land that is adjacent to the 60,000 square they already own, totaling more than 160,000 square feet (3.67 acres).

In December 2013, RobotShop Enters The Drone Market By Acquiring DiaLFonZo-Copter and Launches Lynxmotion UAV. DiaLFonZo-Copter specializes in designing and producing multi-rotor helicopter kits.

In August 2015, RobotShop announced the acquisition of Let’s Make Robots (LMR), a website that brings together the world’s largest community of robot makers and enthusiasts.

Personal and professional robots

RobotShop is specialized in the distribution of domestic and professional robots as well as parts required for custom robotic development. RobotShop sells specialized robotic parts including microcontrollers, sensors, motors and other robotic parts and development platforms. RobotShop is also an important source for robotics education and research.

Products and services

RobotShop's products include domestic and professional robots, robot parts, and toys. RobotShop also provides domestic robot repair to their customers, support and troubleshooting, as well as a Learning Center providing both new and seasoned robot builders educational tools needed to build different types of robots.