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Franka Emika’s Franka Analysis 3 platform. | Supply: Franka Emika
Franka Emika, the German-based developer of the Panda collaborative robotic arm, has filed for insolvency on account of “irreconcilable shareholder variations.”
The preliminary insolvency administrator, Dr. Matthias Hofmann, and his crew are at the moment making ready the pre-financing of insolvency advantages for the greater than 100 staff. “The wages of the staff are secured as much as and together with October 2023 by means of state-sponsored insolvency advantages. Till then, we’ll work collectively to discover a resolution for the way forward for the corporate. I’m very assured that we’ll reach main Franka Emika into an excellent future collectively,” says Hofmann.
The corporate issued a LinkedIn put up to provide extra particulars concerning the information:
In keeping with a launch from the corporate, talks with traders in latest months couldn’t be concluded on account of variations among the many shareholders of Franka Emika. Hofmann will probably be tasked with taking cost of those ongoing talks and opening discussions with new traders.
Presently, Hofmann and his crew are taking an in-depth take a look at the corporate. Franka Emika’s administration crew and Hofmann have already knowledgeable greater than 100 Franka Emika staff concerning the scenario, and are at the moment within the technique of informing clients, companions, and different stakeholders. The crew can also be working to develop the corporate’s seek for traders.
Whereas these two occasions might be unrelated, maybe the first signal of bother for Franka Emika occurred in early 2020. Methods integrator Voith Robotics stopped promoting the Panda arm in favor of cobots from Common Robots. On the time, a supply instructed The Robotic Report the connection between Franka Emika and Voith was a mismatch from the start.
“Franka was geared towards schooling as a substitute of business, and Voith is only industrial, so that they didn’t combine effectively,” the supply mentioned. “Franka is technically excellent, however it’s very arduous to construct and it displays in the fee, to allow them to not compete with UR. And the three Kg payload is simply too small. A 5 Kg payload is the preferred, adopted by 10 Kg and three Kg is [a distant] third.”
Each Hofmann and Franka Emika appear optimistic about discussions with future traders. “Our order books are full, and we’re happy to have the ability to serve our clients effectively once more with the assist of our provider and Dr. Hofmann,” Franka Emika Managing Director Dr. Patrick Pfaff mentioned. “Within the meantime, greater than half of our orders now come from business – together with industrial gamers, in addition to innovators like Deepmind and a just lately gained OEM within the US masking a very newly market phase, main analysis establishments and quite a few medium-sized enterprises, addressing labor scarcity and securing their native competitiveness with our resolution. With a brand new investor at our aspect and with the assist of our enterprise companions, we will double our earlier 12 months’s turnover within the brief time period and obtain a constructive money stream.“
Franka Emika is probably going finest identified for its Panda cobot arm, which is extensively used for analysis functions. Extra just lately, the corporate launched its Franka Analysis 3, an up to date analysis platform for robotics. The platform features a robotic arm and the Franka Management Interface (FCI) so customers can discover low-level programming and management schemes. It additionally presents production-level robots for industrial robotics automation.
When you’re fascinated about studying extra concerning the intricacies of German insolvency legislation, go right here to seek out extra info. The Robotic Report reached out to Franka Emika for particulars. This story is growing and will probably be up to date as wanted.