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Agile Robots’ Yu 5 collaborative robotic arm (left) and Franka Emika’s Manufacturing 3 cobot. | Credit score: Agile Robots, Franka Emika
Agile Robots AG, a German robotics developer, is buying Franka Emika GmbH simply two months after it filed for preliminary insolvency. Agile mentioned it is going to take over Franka Emika’s operations, maintaining its roughly 100-person employees with plans to develop the corporate.
Again in September 2023, Munich–based mostly Franka Emika, the developer of the Panda collaborative robotic (cobot) arm, cited “irreconcilable shareholder variations” as the explanation behind its submitting for insolvency. For the reason that submitting, Matthias Hofmann, Franka Emika’s preliminary insolvency administrator, continued talks with earlier buyers and labored to open discussions with new ones.
Franka Emika’s collectors’ committee beforehand accredited the transaction. Franka Emika and Agile Robots didn’t disclose the monetary particulars of the transaction. Nevertheless, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported the acquisition was value greater than 30 million euros ($32 million).
Agile Robots can also be based mostly in Munich and was based on the German Aerospace Middle (DLR) in 2018. The corporate presents an industrial robotic arm, a cobot arm, software program, an anthropomorphic robotic hand and extra.
“The merger of Agile Robots and Franka Emika is a powerful sign for Germany as a robotics and AI location,” Zhaopeng Chen, CEO and founding father of Agile Robots, mentioned. “This transaction is an industrial answer that gives a singular alternative to create a Bavarian expertise firm with a really world perspective. We look ahead to shaping the way forward for Business 5.0 along with the staff at Franka Emika.”
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Overlap between Agile and Franka
The 2 corporations each provide robots for analysis and schooling and industrial use. Agile Robots may very well be concerned about Franka Emika due to this overlap. Whereas it may very well be unrelated to the corporate submitting for insolvency, programs integrator Voith Robotics stopped promoting Franka Emika’s Panda arm in favor of cobots from Common Robots in early 2020.
On the time, a supply informed The Robotic Report the connection between Franka Emika and Voith was a mismatch from the start resulting from Franka Emika’s deal with schooling. Voith is a purely industrial integrator, so it didn’t combine effectively with Franka, in line with the supply.
Agile mentioned its schooling platform, Aini, helps college students aged 8 to fifteen program and function robots. It contains an academic framework and an built-in platform. Agile mentioned the platform teaches foundational ideas of logic, laptop science, arithmetic, and physics by instructing children to manage a robotic.
Franka Emika makes its Analysis 3 cobot for the robotics analysis group. The corporate mentioned it presents a mix of bodily interplay options and ease of use to greatest match researchers’ wants.
Whereas Franka gears its arm in direction of the robotics analysis group, the businesses may combine Franka’s analysis cobots with Agile’s Aini platform sooner or later. Agile can also be concerned about utilizing Franka to develop its world attain.
“This transaction permits us to speed up the implementation of our worldwide progress technique,” Rory Sexton, vp of operations at Agile Robots, mentioned. “The mixture of robust AI and software program experience with main robotics expertise strengthens our innovation energy and our means to develop demand-driven and market-ready merchandise. That is good for our location, for the groups, and for the purchasers of each corporations.”
