Franka Emika released industry-certified, next-generation robot Franka Production 3

New development: Franka Emika presents industry-certified, next-generation robot FRANKA Production 3

• Category defining cloud/AI-based automation platform for everyone
• Easily accessible robotic services for extended application areas
• First to be industry-certified robotic arm with tactile capabilities for a human-like sense of touch
  

Hanover, May 29, 2022 - Robots have been part of modern production environments for a long time. Fuelled by highly complex sensor technology, they are increasingly supporting people by relieving from monotonous and repetitive tasks. However this process involved time-consuming learning process, which was reducing productivity – that is, until now.

With the launch of the FRANKA Production 3, robotics company Franka Emika now brings its category defining technology advances to the production environment. The Munich-based development pioneer, who has already made a name for itself in the field of easily accessible robotics services with thousands of robots sold to the market, presents FRANKA Production 3 (FP3) for the first time. This will be a cloud-based, collective as well as AI-supported learning platform for diverse applications in automation. For our customers, this means that existing staff can use the FP3 to turn their process expertise into robotic automation within minutes without needing robotics expertise or programming knowledge to do it.

Robot arm with tactile capabilities

Thanks to its intelligent robot control for different automation applications, FP3 sets new standards. Its fast and precise sensor feedback gives it exceptional tactile capabilities such as human-arm-like dexterity and sense of touch. This feature makes the FP3 a pioneer in diverse applications, pushing the frontiers of automation. "Thanks to the in-house developed torque sensors in all seven axes and the decentralized control in Franka's own joint electronics, the FP3 has tactile features comparable to the dexterity of a human arm. This makes it the most sensitive lightweight robot on the market to date ", explains Dr. Patrick Pfaff, Chief Technology Officer of Franka Emika. The product from Franka Emika is also ahead of the curve in terms of safety standards. Within the coming days, the FP3 will be officially certified in accordance with ISO standards 10218-1 and 13849-1 with safety functions in Performance Level D (PLd) and Category 3. Thanks to these features the FP3 meets the highest standards worldwide and is perfectly suitable for industrial tasks.

Intuitive use without robotics expertise

An intuitive user experience and interface from the beginning to the end of the automation process ensure unparalleled ease of use. The FP3 ships with a wide variety of basic apps from the FRANKA World App Store, which can simply be selected in a plug-and-use fashion and assembled into an app workflow to tell the robot and associated peripherals what to do and in what order. Virtual assistants guide configuration of the apps for each task. FRANKA Production 3 was developed specifically so that users without prior knowledge in robotics or artificial intelligence can take advantage of these advanced technologies. The apps and platform encapsulate the robotics and AI expertise of the developers, while allowing the user to benefit from this in a plug and play fashion. This is one of the keys that empower users to quickly become productive without lengthy training, while also staying flexible to changing production requirements.

"In order to maintain competitiveness as well as technology leadership for our key industries, especially SMEs, we need to set respective pulses in and out of Germany through innovative products. Our FRANKA Production 3 is a real leap forward for game changing, global productivity gains, because it revolutionizes industrial production through its versatile, simple, productivity-enhancing functionality. Not only does this improve competitiveness, it secures local production and local employment, and also counteracts the shortage of skilled workers. Thus, Franka Emika is defining Next Generation Robotics for Everyone via the highest safety standards in collaboration, in conjunction with human-like dexterity in robot sensor technology and simple platform accessibility," Dr. Alwin Mahler, Chief Executive Officer of Franka Emika sums up.

Immediate availability via the FRANKA World App Store

The FRANKA Production 3 is immediately available for ordering. A selection of basic app building blocks comes with the robot, and additional apps are available via the FRANKA World App Store, which can be downloaded, also enabling offline usage. The selection of available apps is continuously growing in conjunction with available ecosystem components and services. For our development partners globally, this offers the possibility – encourage via respective platform agreements - to develop and sell their own robotics apps in the FRANKA World App Store. In addition, following on our existing leading position in the robotics research community, the sales launch for our new research robot system FRANKA Research 3 (FR3) is planned for July 2022.

Watch the product video below: