MARION — RobotWorx founder Keith Wanner is sure he ticked off a lot of competitors in the company’s youth.
Wanner bought hundreds of robot-related domain names before his competitors caught on to the Internet, he said, with RobotWorx laying claim to the domain name robots.com.
Twenty-five years later, the manufacturer; which buys used robots, refurbishes them and sells them; is going strong, having been bought by New Zealand-based SCOTT Technology in a multi-million-dollar deal in 2014.
Wanner, who now lives in Florida, feels the Internet is a big reason the company he founded has stayed in business for 25 years, with the company investing little time and money in salesmen and trade shows and more in search engine optimization and an online presence, he said.
He moved RobotWorx in 2005 from Delaware to a 125,000-square-foot facility in Marion, where he wanted the company to remain.
The manufacturer celebrated 25 years in business Friday with an open house at its building at 370 W. Fairground St., where it offered tours of the facility and its robots.
Aaron French, 11, a member of the robotics team at Pleasant Local Schools, went on a tour with his mom, where RobotWorx employees showed him how to program one of the manufacturer’s robots to move and wave its claw.
“It was so much fun,” said French, who wants to go into engineering and work with robots when he is older.
When asked what if he wanted to see anything else, French said “I want to watch more” robots.
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