Hardware-as-a-service (HaaS) is gaining momentum across a variety of industries. Many of the early adopters of HaaS are in robotics, offering robots-as-a-service (RaaS) to decrease barriers to entry and improve overall value to customers. Others offer machine-as-a-service (MaaS), device-as-a-service (DaaS), or equipment-as-a-service (EaaS).
Some companies pitch outcomes more than assets, offering data-as-a-service or platform-as-a-service models. From network-as-a-service to facades cleaning; managed service providers (MSPs) to managed security service providers (MSSPs); and autonomous construction equipment to diagnostic sensors and 3D printers, these companies are on the cutting-edge of their fields.
This post is part of a series about modern hardware companies, their business models, and the future of HaaS. For more, see posts from early and late May, early and late June, early and late July, and early and late August.
Philips offers a wide portfolio of connected medical technology, combining advanced hardware with integrated software. The company’s hardware includes MRI and CT scanners, X-ray and fluoroscopy systems, ultrasound devices, and patient monitors used from bedside to transport, as well as image-guided therapy suites. On the software side, Philips provides enterprise imaging and cloud platforms that allow providers to store, share, and analyze scans, delivered through HealthSuite Imaging, a managed cloud radiology service hosted on AWS that Philips runs as pure SaaS. Together, these tools are built to interoperate, giving clinicians continuous patient data, remote access, and AI-supported workflows that improve speed, coordination, and accuracy of care.
Philips increasingly packages technology as subscriptions and long-term managed services, using its own labels for these subcategories of hardware-as-a-service (HaaS): EMaaS (Enterprise Monitoring as a Service), TaaS (technology-as-a-service), and vendor-neutral managed services. Under EMaaS 180, the hospital shares ownership of the monitoring fleet and keeps the depreciation, paying a mix of upfront costs and subscription fees. Under EMaaS 360, Philips owns the equipment outright and the hospital pays per use. Alongside that sit Technology Maximizer, a four-to-five-year program that bundles software and console hardware upgrades for imaging fleets and can be paid as either capital or operating expense, and managed services agreements which cover multi-vendor fleets on outcome-oriented service levels. What these models share is a shift away from one-time equipment purchases toward recurring spend tied to use, with platform standardization and faster upgrade cycles as the operational payoff.
“Clinicians and hospital leaders know that upgrades are not only vital to the performance and value of these systems, but also an important aspect to ensure that the technology is compliant and safeguarded against security issues,” says Kees Wesdorp, Business Leader, Diagnostic Imaging at Philips. “Technology Maximizer addresses all these concerns while helping our customers make the most of their imaging investments.”
OTTO Motors
OTTO by Rockwell Automation builds autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) that move materials safely and efficiently within factories and warehouses. The company’s product line includes the OTTO 100, OTTO 600, OTTO 1200, OTTO 1500, and OTTO Lifter, each designed for specific payloads and workflows, from line-side delivery to pallet transport. These robots use LiDAR, 3D cameras, and infrastructure-free navigation to map environments, avoid obstacles, and coordinate with other machines through OTTO’s centralized Fleet Manager software. The company’s approach focuses on flexible automation systems that integrate with existing facility infrastructure, helping manufacturers reduce labor costs and increase throughput without reconfiguring their operations. OTTO also reaches warehouse and distribution customers through a channel partnership with Honeywell Intelligrated.
OTTO’s pricing model is hybrid, combining hardware sales with recurring revenue from software, updates, and support services. Customers purchase the robots outright as capital equipment, with list prices reported at approximately $39,000 for the OTTO 100 and $169,000 for the OTTO Lifter, then subscribe to OTTO Care, an annual support plan sold in three tiers with fixed annual billing. The top tier adds proactive on-site maintenance and priority repair beyond the standard one-year warranty. Fleet management and autonomy features are continuously improved through semi-annual software releases, extending each robot’s value well beyond its initial deployment. Quotes are solution-based, varying with the attachments, workflow complexity, and integration scope each deployment requires.
Doosan Robotics
Doosan Robotics designs and manufactures one of the broadest collaborative robot portfolios on the market, serving manufacturing, logistics, and food service environments across 45 countries. Its lineup spans five series from 5 kg to 30 kg of payload: the M-Series, its highest-precision line, with six torque sensors and ±0.03 mm repeatability for assembly and machine tending; the H-Series for heavy-duty work at up to 25 kg; the A-Series as a fast, cost-effective entry point; the five-axis P3020, purpose-built for palletizing at 30 kg and 2,030 mm of reach; and the E-Series, carrying NSF food-zone and IP66 certification for beverage and fryer applications in hospitality. Alongside the hardware, the Dart-Suite ecosystem gives developers an SDK, a drag-and-drop IDE, and Dr.Dart-Store, a marketplace where paid robot modules are bought, activated, and run on Doosan controllers.
Doosan sells its cobots outright as capital equipment, through system integrators and directly to large manufacturers, which makes this hardware-enabled SaaS rather than a rental or subscription play. Title passes to the buyer, who carries the asset and the maintenance risk. Recurring revenue comes from the software layer: DART-Studio is licensed for one year at a time and stops running when the term lapses, and Dr.Dart-Store modules are sold per license against a store account. Margin on the arm is one-time, so lifetime value depends on renewals and module attach, scaling with the number of controllers installed rather than with hours run.
Reolink
Reolink designs and manufactures security camera systems that pair imaging hardware with flexible connectivity and on-device AI. Its portfolio spans PoE, WiFi, and 4G LTE cameras, including the ColorX line for full-color night vision, 180° dual-lens panoramic models, vandal-proof domes, and dual-lens PTZ floodlight cameras with 355° pan. The Professional Series is the company's business-facing line: PoE turret, dome, and bullet cameras up to 16MP with 30 FPS capture, plus the RP-PN8 and RP-PN16 PoE NVRs. Reolink's ReoNeura AI powers smart detection across people, vehicles, and objects, along with natural-language video search that runs against locally stored event recordings rather than a cloud service. Reolink VMS, the company's free video management software, handles up to 36 simultaneous live streams with no cap on total devices, giving small and mid-sized operators centralized multi-site monitoring.
The company's model is hardware-enabled SaaS with a deliberately thin recurring layer. Hardware is sold outright, and the optional recurring services are Reolink Cloud storage plans (from roughly $6.99 per month for a five-camera, 30-day plan) and 4G LTE data plans for the Go and Duo cellular cameras (roughly $5.99 to $66 per month in the US, by data allowance). Both attach mainly to battery and cellular cameras. The business line runs the other direction: Professional Series deployments record to local SD or NVR storage, VMS carries no license fee, and Reolink markets the absence of a monthly fee as a selling point on its own business pages. The recurring revenue is real but optional, consumer-weighted, and positioned as a backup layer rather than the commercial relationship.
Harvest Automation
Harvest Automation builds autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) that automate the spacing, consolidation, and collection of containerized plants in nurseries and greenhouses. Its flagship system, the OmniVeyor HV-100, picks up a potted plant, carries it across the growing bed, and sets it down in a precise pattern, the work that crews otherwise do by hand and that accounts for the most physically punishing job on a nursery site. The robot runs in greenhouses, hoop houses, and open outdoor beds across gravel, ground cloth, poly, and concrete. It navigates with a distance-measuring laser (Lidar) plus infrared sensors that track a reflective boundary tape rolled along the edge of the bed, so a grower needs no facility mapping, no programming, and no changes to existing infrastructure. Quick-swap rechargeable batteries let a fleet run around the clock alongside human crews. The Harvest Knowledge dashboard connects over the grower's existing Wi-Fi to show real-time robot productivity and fault status, lifetime reporting by robot, day, and week, and troubleshooting steps for operators, plus an API for integration with production systems.
Harvest Automation sells the HV-100 as capital equipment. Growers buy robots outright and own them, with the Harvest Knowledge dashboard, operator and service documentation, training videos, and phone and email support bundled into the purchase rather than billed as a subscription. Earlier in its commercial life the company ran a rental route into ownership, letting a grower put a team of robots to work for a season and crediting the full rental fee back against the purchase price if they kept them. Co-founder Joe Jones has described recurring income from both rented robots and service contracts with growers who had bought outright. Harvest now describes its focus as supporting existing customers, expanding deployments in other parts of the world, and developing accessories for the HV-100. The recurring layer sits in service and support rather than in the hardware itself.