01/06/2022
Franka Emika launches an industrial cobot, Production 3, a strategic decision from educational to industrial?
Franka Emika is known and famous for its Panda cobot, well known amongst many researchers and Ph.D. students. Franka Emika’s Panda cobot is one of the leading cobots if you look at the reviews it gets from users. Franka Emika definitely knows how to build a qualitative cobot and how to put it in the market. Built on their previous experience and knowledge from its educational cobot, Franka Emika has now tried its hand in industrial cobots.
“Franka Production 3, human-centered design with German engineering, is able to achieve high performance with their products, without compromising on the accessibility of the technology.”
- Franka Emika, 2022.
So why industrial cobots?
Production 3 was launched at Hannover Messe where the world of industrial automation comes to Germany every year. Franka Emika was present launching its Production 3 and being the only all-German cobot brand.
It certainly came as a surprise when Franka Emika revealed that they will be targeting a different audience. It is no surprise that they will be building on their former educational cobot, for an industrial cobot, the Production 3 (FP3).
It can be said that, based on their press releases and videos, Franka Emika wanted to further revolutionize robotics and wanted to create a robotics platform to transform and stimulate industrial production - enabling industrial automation in allowing the production of anything.
It indicates Franka Emika’s intention of Production 3 to be dedicated to the new generation of industry players.
Production 3 is completely TÜV certified and therefore achieves an important requirement for industrial suitability.
Let’s break down Franka Production 3:
Franka Production 3 is the force-sensitive robot platform made in Germany, an industry system that ignites productivity for everyone who needs industrial robotics automation. It appears that the cloud-based and AI-assisted robot was designed to rapidly and efficiently automate processes without the need for any robotic expertise or programming command.
Specifications:
Franka Production 3’s robot system includes the arm and its control. The force sensitive and agile arm features 7 DOF with torque sensors at each joint. This also includes an industrial-grade pose repeatability of +/- 0.1mm and negligible path deviation even at high velocities.
Franka Production 3 comes with a payload of 3kgs, a reach of 855mm and a workspace coverage of 94.5%.
Franka Emika focused on:
Design:
Human arm-like dexterity, it enables sensitive manipulation and force-enabled applications. Equipped with more than a hundred sensors of various types which include in-house designed, industry-leading torque sensors in all 7 axes. Production 3 wanted to facilitate a uniqueness in its ability to stimulate a human-like, dexterity based skillset.
Designed to be intuitively easy and straightforward to set up with effortless hand-guiding and smooth interaction.
As mentioned earlier, the Franka Production 3 can reach and operate as far as 855mm including close proximity to its own base.
The geometry of the 7 axes allows for complicated poses to reach difficult spaces which allows for task execution even in confined environments.
“This makes it the most sensitive lightweight robot on the market to date,"
- Dr. Patrick Pfaff, Chief Technology Officer of Franka Emika, 2022.
Accessibility:
As mentioned before, Franka Emika’s intention was for everyone to be able to use robots, which therefore, no prior knowledge of programming is necessary to programme the Production 3.
“Everyone can become a robot expert, turning their process expertise into robotic automation”
- Franka Emika, 2022.
A quick time to profit and productivity - with low initial investment, and low expertise required.
A Pilot interface that is conveniently placed at hand on the robot Arm, allowing for remote control of the user interface.
Reduced Downtime:
Easy installation and operation removes the need for a dedicated team of robot experts. This improves flexibility in production and less training required. It is a plug-and-use with a delivery to first usage in under 30 minutes.
App Workflows allows for swift reconfiguration of tasks - therefore quick adaptation to meet the demands of a dynamic factory.
Safety:
Sophisticated sensors, control algorithms and internal models allow for quick detection and reaction upon unwanted collisions within milliseconds.
To learn more Franka Emica Production 3.
Updated 15/08/22