|
Listen to this text  |
Franka Emika’s Franka Research 3 platform. | Source: Franka Emika
Franka Emika, the German-based developer of the Panda collaborative robotic arm, has filed for insolvency on account of “irreconcilable shareholder differences.”
The preliminary insolvency administrator, Dr. Matthias Hofmann, and his staff are presently making ready the pre-financing of insolvency advantages for the greater than 100 workers. “The wages of the employees are secured up to and including October 2023 through state-sponsored insolvency benefits. Until then, we will work together to find a solution for the future of the company. I am very confident that we will succeed in leading Franka Emika into a good future together,” says Hofmann.
The firm issued a LinkedIn put up to present extra particulars in regards to the information:
According to a launch from the corporate, talks with traders in current 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.
Currently, Hofmann and his staff are taking an in-depth take a look at the corporate. Franka Emika’s administration staff and Hofmann have already knowledgeable greater than 100 Franka Emika workers in regards to the scenario, and are presently within the means of informing prospects, companions, and different stakeholders. The staff can also be working to broaden the corporate’s seek for traders.
While these two occasions may very well be unrelated, maybe the first signal of bother for Franka Emika occurred in early 2020. Systems integrator Voith Robotics stopped promoting the Panda arm in favor of cobots from Universal Robots. At the time, a supply advised The Robot Report the connection between Franka Emika and Voith was a mismatch from the start.
“Franka was geared toward education instead of industrial, and Voith is purely industrial, so they didn’t mix well,” the supply mentioned. “Franka is technically very good, but it’s very hard to build and it reflects in the cost, so they can not compete with UR. And the 3 Kg payload is too small. A 5 Kg payload is the most popular, followed by 10 Kg and 3 Kg is [a distant] third.”
Both Hofmann and Franka Emika appear optimistic about discussions with future traders. “Our order books are full, and we are pleased to be able to serve our customers well again with the support of our supplier and Dr. Hofmann,” Franka Emika Managing Director Dr. Patrick Pfaff mentioned. “In 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 overlaying 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 answer. With a brand new investor at our facet and with the assist of our enterprise companions, we will double our earlier yr’s turnover within the brief time period and obtain a optimistic money circulation.“
Franka Emika is probably going greatest recognized for its Panda cobot arm, which is broadly used for analysis functions. More just lately, the corporate launched its Franka Research 3, an up to date analysis platform for robotics. The platform features a robotic arm and the Franka Control Interface (FCI) so customers can discover low-level programming and management schemes. It additionally presents production-level robots for industrial robotics automation.
If you’re concerned about studying extra in regards to the intricacies of German insolvency legislation, go right here to seek out extra info. The Robot Report reached out to Franka Emika for particulars. This story is creating and will probably be up to date as wanted.