Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 6, 2026

Barrett Technology

Newton, Massachusetts, USA-based Barrett Technology was founded by Bill Townsend in 1988. The company has two divisions: Barrett Drive Systems and Barrett Medical.

Last revised
Jun 6, 2026
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≈ 6 min
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Wikipedia ↗
Barrett Technology, LLC
Company type
Private
IndustryMedical Robotics and Drive Systems
PredecessorBarrett Technology, Inc.

Barrett Communications, Inc.

Barrett Design, Inc.
FoundedCambridge, Massachusetts (1988 (1988))
FounderBill Townsend
Headquarters
320 Nevada Street, Ground Floor, Building Rear, Newton, Massachusetts
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
ProductsBurt®, Puck®, WAM® Robotic Arm, BarrettHand™
Divisions
  • Barrett Drive Systems
  • Barrett Medical
Website[1] barrett.com

Newton, Massachusetts, USA-based Barrett Technology was founded by Bill Townsend in 1988.1 The company has two divisions: Barrett Drive Systems2 and Barrett Medical3.

The main product line for Barrett Medical is Burt® (Barrett Upper-extremity Robotic Trainer), an FDA-registered4 Class-II robot designed and produced in Barrett's ISO 13485-Certified5 facility to help patients recover from stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal-cord injury, and other neurological impairments.6 Burt® is protected by US Patents as recently as 2025 with international equivalents.78910 The president of Barrett Medical is Matt Rigby.

The main product line for Barrett Drive Systems is the Puck® brushless servomotor controller+encoder. Inspired by Gill Pratt, Barrett Drive System's Puck® is a miniature brushless motor controller developed by Barrett Technology with funding from US NASA11 and DOE12 contracts. Designed to replace traditional motor controllers, the Puck® integrates electronic space-vector commutation, power amplification, and a magnetic encoder into a single compact solid-state module that mounts directly to the tail-end of any brushless motor.13 This internal integration eliminates the need for wires and connectors between a separate controller and encoder, which improves reliability and simplifies assembly.14 The controller architecture utilizes a precise current (i.e. motor torque) control method that halves the traditional noise floor; this novel technique was granted multiple US Patents as recently as 2025 with international equivalents.151617181920 The most recent iteration of the controller product line, includes the 400W-peak, P4-16™, which has a total volume of 1.2 cubic centimeters, diameter of 16 mm and weighs 2.0 grams.21 The president of Barrett Drive Systems is CJ Valle.

Previously, Barrett manufactured advanced robotic arms and hands for advanced research, installed in 20 countries on 6 continents, and are still being used and produced. Barrett was credited in The Guinness Book of World Records, Millennium Edition, as maker of the world's “most advanced robotic arm.”22 Its 7-axis robotic arm, named the WAM® arm for Whole Arm Manipulation23 is based on Puck® electronics24 and mechanical252627 drive technologies and designed to interact directly with people.2328 One application of an early version of the technology has been the arm manufactured and sold by MAKO Surgical Corp. which enables haptically-guided minimally-invasive knee surgery.29

The Puck powered BarrettHand™ BH8-series product is based on technology licensed from the University of Pennsylvania3031 and developed by Gill Pratt, Yoky Matsuoka, and William Townsend32 into its present form.

Company history

Date Event
1982–1984 Townsend works in Massachusetts Institute of Technology's "motor" lab (LEES) where novel servomotor CMOS-FET configurations/algorithms are being developed
1987 Research team at MIT invents cable-differential drive, high-speed cable drive, and haptic (WAM®) robotic arm
1988 Barrett founded by Bill Townsend as latest spinoff from MIT's AI Laboratory with funds from investor, Julianne Barrett
1990 Barrett Technology, Inc. incorporated
1991 Barrett markets brushless motor with integrated drive electronics
1992 US Patents2526 issued on cable-drive technologies
1993 Barrett builds first BarrettHand™ prototype, combining Barrett and UPenn technologies3031
1995 US Patent27 issued on a manual cable pretensioner
1997 Barrett secures exclusive worldwide control of the WAM® cable-drive patents2526 from MIT
1998 Barrett signs exclusive license deal with MAKO Surgical Corp. for medical applications
2001 Burt Doo becomes Barrett's Operations Chief and invests in the Company
2002 Covert work begins on Puck® development with support from MIT professors, Gill Pratt and Jeff Lang
2004 Barrett builds first Puck®-based prototype WAM for NASA-JSC
2005 MAKO Surgical Corp. wins U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to market a modified WAM® for knee surgery
2006 MAKO begins shipping its version of the WAM® for knee surgery under license from Barrett
2007 US Patent32 awarded for Hand with integrated "Palm" camera
2007 Barrett begins work on next-generation Puck®, code-named "P3" and released in 2012
2009 US Patent24 awarded on the Puck®, other patents pending internationally
2019 Puck®-powered Burt® (Barrett Upper-extremity Robotic Trainer) launched in the US for hospital rehabilitation after neurological injury or disease, such as stroke, spinal-cord injury, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson's, and multiple sclerosis
2024 4th-generation Puck® released
2025 Burt® surpasses 100 systems installed in the US and 400 internationally
Sources

Sources

Rooks, Brian, "The harmonious robot" (PDF), Industrial Robot, archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-19, retrieved 2010-06-07

Smith, Julian (23 March 2007), "Can Robots Be Programmed to Learn from Their Own Experiences?", Scientific American

References

References

  1. "Barrett Technology, LLC". Retrieved 2026-04-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. "Barrett Drive Systems".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. "Barrett Medical". Retrieved 2026-04-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. "AccessGUDID - DEVICE: BURT (00867504000413)". accessgudid.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 2026-04-23.
  5. "Barrett ISO 13485:2016/A11:2021 Certificate of Registration" (PDF). Barrett Document Repository. 2024-07-30. Retrieved 2026-04-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. "Burt® Rehabilitation Robot | Upper-Limb Robotic Therapy for Stroke". Barrett. Retrieved 2026-04-23.
  7. US12447089B2, Wilkinson, David D.; Yen, Alvin & IV, Claude F. Valle et al., "Multi-active-axis, non-exoskeletal robotic rehabilitation device", issued 2025-10-21 
  8. US12350830B2, Townsend, William T.; Wilkinson, David & Jenko, Alexander et al., "Multi-active-axis, non-exoskeletal rehabilitation device", issued 2025-07-08 
  9. US10925797B2, Townsend, William T.; Wilkinson, David & Jenko, Alexander et al., "Multi-active-axis, non-exoskeletal rehabilitation device", issued 2021-02-23 
  10. US10130546B2, Townsend, William T.; Wilkinson, David & Jenko, Alexander et al., "Multi-active-axis, non-exoskeletal rehabilitation device", issued 2018-11-20 
  11. "SBIR Recipient Creates Low-Power, Lightweight Controller" (PDF). NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. 2009-06-29. Retrieved 2026-04-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. "Final Technical Report for DOE Grant DE-FG02-02ER83371, Phase II". U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information. 2006-04-14. Retrieved 2026-04-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. "Universal Brushless-DC Motor Controller for Space Applications". NASA Techport. 2025-01-27. Retrieved 2026-04-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. "Ultra-Compact Motor Controller". NASA Technical Reports Server (NASA Tech Briefs). 2012. Retrieved 2026-04-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. US12494725B2, IV, Claude F. Valle; Blank, Amy A. & Zenowich, Brian et al., "High performance current sensing architecture for brushless motors", issued 2025-12-09 
  16. US11290043B2, IV, Claude F. Valle; Blank, Amy A. & Zenowich, Brian et al., "High performance current sensing architecture for brushless motors", issued 2022-03-29 
  17. US10148155B2, Wilkinson, David; Botticelli, Peter & Drumm, Donald et al., "Method and apparatus for connecting an ultracompact, high-performance motor controller to an ultracompact, high-performance brushless DC motor", issued 2018-12-04 
  18. US7893644B2, Townsend, William T.; Crowell, Adam & Pratt, Gill et al., "Ultra-compact, high-performance motor controller and method of using same", issued 2011-02-22 
  19. US7854631B2, Townsendl, William T.; Crowell, Adam & Pratt, Gill et al., "Ultra-compact, high-performance motor controller", issued 2010-12-21 
  20. US7511443B2, Townsend, William T.; Crowell, Adam & Pratt, Gill et al., "Ultra-compact, high-performance motor controller and method of using same", issued 2009-03-31 
  21. "Puck® Motor Controller | Ultra-Miniature Brushless Servo Drive". Barrett. Retrieved 2026-04-23.
  22. Kynaston, Nic (2000). 'Guinness World Records, Millennium Edition'. London, UK: Guinness Media Inc. pp. 170–171. ISBN 1-892051-00-1.
  23. US 5207114, J. Kenneth Salisbury Jr., (Cambridge, MA) William T. Townsend (Somerville, MA) & William T. Townsend, "Compact cable transmission with cable differential", issued 1993-05-04, assigned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA) 
  24. US 7511443, William T. Townsend, (Weston, MA) Adam Crowell, (Beverly, MA) Gill Pratt, (Lexington, MA), Traveler Hauptman, (Watertown, MA); Adam Crowell & Gill Pratt et al., "Ultra-compact, high-performance motor controller and method of using same", issued 2009-03-31, assigned to Barrett Technology, Inc. (Cambridge, MA) 
  25. US 4903536, J. Kenneth Salisbury Jr., (Cambridge, MA), William T. Townsend, (Somerville, MA), David M. DiPietro, (Webster, NY), Brian S. Eberman, (Rochester, MN); William T. Townsend & David M. DiPietro et al., "Compact cable transmission with cable differential", issued 1990-02-27, assigned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA) 
  26. US 5046375, J. Kenneth Salisbury Jr., (Cambridge, MA) William T. Townsend, (Somerville, MA) David M. DiPietro, (Webster, NY) Brian S. Eberman, (Rochester, MN); William T. Townsend & David M. DiPietro et al., "Compact cable transmission with cable differential", issued 1991-09-10, assigned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA) 
  27. US 5388480, William T. Townsend, (Weston, MA), "Pretensioning mechanism for tension element drive systems", issued 1995-02-14, assigned to Barrett Technology, Inc. (Cambridge, MA) 
  28. "The Science of Innovation". NSF Current (Mailing list). June 2009. Archived from the original on 31 October 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
  29. "Robotics Offer Newfound Surgical Capabilities". Embedded Technology. 17 April 2009. Archived from the original on 10 July 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  30. US 4957320, Nathan T. Ulrich, (Philadelphia, PA), "Methods and apparatus for mechanically intelligent grasping", issued 1990-09-18, assigned to Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA) 
  31. US 5501498, Nathan T. Ulrich, (Philadelphia, PA), "Methods and apparatus for mechanically intelligent grasping", issued 1996-03-26, assigned to Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA) 
  32. US 7168748, William T. Townsend, (Weston, MA) Traveler Hauptman, (Cambridge, MA) Adam Crowell, (Beverly, MA) Brian Zenowich, (Boston, MA) John Lawson, (Petersboro, MA) Vitaliy Krutik, (Lynn, MA) Burt Doo, (Cambridge, MA); Traveler Hauptman & Adam Crowell et al., "Intelligent, self-contained robotic hand", issued 1996-03-26, assigned to Barrett Technology, Inc. (Cambridge, MA)