U.S. Robotics Corporation is a company that makes USRobotics computer modems and related products. It sold high-speed modems in the 1980s, and had a reputation for high quality and compatibility. With the reduced usage of voiceband modems in North America in the early 21st century, USR is now one of the few modem companies left in that market. It now employs about 125 people worldwide. Despite their name they have never made robots. USR was founded in 1976 in Chicago, Illinois , by a group of entrepreneurs, including Casey Cowell, who served as CEO for most of the company's history and Paul... Collard who designed modems into the mid-80's. The company name is a reference to the fiction of Isaac Asimov, who is credited with inventing the term robotics. Asimov's Robot stories featured a fictional company named U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men. Cowell stated at a popular BBS convention they named the company as an homage to Asimov and because in his science fiction works US Robotics eventually became "the biggest company in the universe".
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