The origins of Telerob go back to the SMF heavy manipulator vehicle development project initiated by the German nuclear operators in 1988. This project was initiated two years after the reactor disaster in Chernobyl. Up to1991, in cooperation with the precision mechanical engineering company BILZ from Ostfildern, the company MaK from Kiel developed and produced an internationally unique, remote-controlled clearance and rescue vehicle for performing security measures following possible incidents. In order to continue making expedient use of the jointly developed expertise and technologies, in May 1994, MaK (at this time already a subsidiary of Rheinmetall AG) and BILZ set up Telerob Gesellschaft für Fernhantierungstechnik mbH.

With the purchase of the security service company MELTRON Sicherheitstechnik, based in the German town of Korschenbroich, back in 1994, the strategic focus on products for explosive ordnance clearance and defusing manifested itself. At the same time, manipulators for nuclear and industrial plants continued to be developed and produced. In 1998, development of the EOD robot tEODor got underway. The rapid spread of this highly successful model was due to our high-quality standards, which met the particularly stringent demands of the nuclear sector.