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Franka Research 3: Unveiling New Features for Enhanced Performance

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MUNICH, March 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Franka Research 3 (FR3), already trusted by leading academic institutions and research laboratories worldwide, continues to evolve, bringing new and powerful capabilities to researchers and roboticists. As the reference world-class, force-sensitive robot system, FR3 combines ease of use with deep control access, making it a cornerstone for AI-driven robotics research – with FR3 being adopted by leading academic institutions and research labs worldwide. With the latest updates, the FR3 is expanding its functionality, offering more flexibility, precision, and integration options.

At the core of FR3 lies a dexterous, force-sensitive robotic arm featuring:

7 Degrees of Freedom (DOF) for fluid and dexterous motion.Torque sensors at each joint, enabling precise force control and manipulation.Industrial-grade position repeatability of +/- 0.1 mm, ensuring accuracy in every movement.3 kg payload capacity and 855 mm reach, covering 94.5% of its workspace.

This exceptional hardware foundation is further enhanced by cutting-edge software improvements, making FR3 more versatile than ever.

Desk API: Simplified Automation and Administration

The new Desk API allows seamless programmatic control over FR3 systems. Users can now:

Open the robot’s brakes and activate the Franka Control Interface (FCI) programmatically.Automate system administration tasks.Clear safety violations remotely, ensuring continuous operation.

This feature enhances automation capabilities, making research workflows more efficient and reducing downtime.

Torque Sensor Calibration: Precision That Lasts

With the latest update, researchers can recalibrate the internal torque sensors directly in the field. This ensures consistent sensitivity throughout the robot’s lifetime, adapting to environmental and operational changes while maintaining peak performance.

ROS 2 Jazzy Support: Next-Gen Robotics Compatibility

The integration of full support for ROS 2 Jazzy opens new possibilities for advanced robotics research. Researchers can now:

Utilize the latest ROS 2 framework for real-time, scalable, and distributed robotic applications.Leverage ROS 2’s enhanced communication and control features.Seamlessly integrate with other ROS 2-compatible platforms and tools.

Enhanced Usability & Design: A Refined Experience

FR3 now features intuitive joint rotation markings and X/Y axis indicators, simplifying setup and operation. Alongside its sleek, modern aesthetic, these improvements make handling the robot easier and more intuitive.

Expanding the Franka Research Ecosystem

Franka Robotics continues to foster a rich and growing ecosystem, ensuring seamless integration with the most widely used robotics frameworks. The latest updates include:

MoveIt 2 Integration: Powerful Motion Planning

The FR3 system now fully integrates with MoveIt 2, the leading framework for motion planning and control. This connection, facilitated through ROS 2, allows:

Faster and more efficient motion planning.Streamlined implementation of advanced robotic behaviors.Improved ease of use for research applications requiring complex motion execution.

Optimized Performance for the Future of Research

The latest enhancements to FR3 are strategically designed to optimize performance, enhance usability, and expand research capabilities. Whether you’re exploring new AI-driven applications, conducting fine-grained motion studies, or leveraging the power of ROS 2, these updates ensure that FR3 remains at the forefront of robotics innovation.

Explore the next frontier of robotics with Franka Research 3 and experience the power of cutting-edge technology tailored for research excellence.

https://franka.de/products/franka-research-3 

Further developments, with new features set to be introduced in the coming months as we continue to drive progress in robotics research.

About Franka Robotics

Franka Robotics is a German, research-driven robotics company headquartered in Munich and operating globally. Founded in 2016, it is part of the Agile Robots SE group since 2023. Our mission is to enable the growing community of robotics and AI professionals to shape a pivotal moment in human evolution: giving AI a robot body. By developing the reference robotics platform, Franka Robotics drives continuous advancements in the field, fostering collaboration, creativity, and knowledge sharing among robotics and AI professionals worldwide.

Find out more at: https://www.franka.de

Contact: 
Head of Marketing
Tatjana Zakharova
tatjana.zakharova@franka.de

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Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2628302/5213258/Franka_Robotics_Logo.jpg

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/franka-research-3-unveiling-new-features-for-enhanced-performance-302400242.html

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Chef Robotics Physical AI Models Can Now Automate Baked Goods Packing

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chef Robotics, a leader in physical AI for the food industry, today announced that Chef robots can now automate tray assembly for baked goods packing. The application places baked products, such as burger buns, chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, butter cookies, biscuits, fortune cookies, granola bars, rusks, and shortbreads into trays and packaging containers before sealing.

Watch Chef robots in action.

Baked goods packing has historically been difficult to automate for high-mix production. Each item behaves differently on the production line—a granola bar compresses under the wrong grip, while a biscotti or rusk can crack if placed at the wrong angle. Surface textures range from glazed and smooth to crumbly and irregular, and strict presentation requirements leave little room for error. This variability has made it challenging for automation systems to reliably handle baked goods at production speeds, leaving food manufacturers dependent on manual labor and traditional bakery equipment.

To address this, Chef built its baked goods packing application on its existing piece-picking capability, which uses Chef’s AI-powered computer vision and physical AI models trained across diverse real-world production environments. This allows Chef robots to assess each item’s position, shape, and orientation in real time and determine how to pick the items from the pan and place them quickly and precisely without damaging them.

The baked goods packing application supports four distinct placement capabilities.

First, Chef’s vision system detects the angle at which each item sits in the pan and reorients it after picking, placing it on the tray at the exact angle required, regardless of its original position, enabling retail-ready presentation for SKUs that require precise angular placement.

Second, Chef robots can place multiple baked goods into the same packaging container in a single automated pass, completing full tray assembly without manual intervention.

Third, for packaging containers with multiple small compartments, Chef robots can precisely place items into each designated section, including multiple items in the same compartment, using Chef’s AI vision model to detect compartment positions and orientations in real time.

Fourth, Chef’s vision system identifies the exact center of each tray and places every item at a predefined offset from that center, ensuring a uniform, consistent arrangement across every pack regardless of how trays arrive on the conveyor.

For food manufacturers evaluating bakery systems and baked goods packaging automation, the application offers higher throughput, reduced labor dependency, and consistent presentation across shifts. The capability runs on Chef’s existing robotic hardware and software, allowing manufacturers to deploy it without requiring any changes to their production lines.

Chef’s baked goods packing application is available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the UK and is included as part of Chef’s robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) pricing model.

About Chef Robotics
Chef is the first company to have commercialized a scalable AI-driven food robotics solution. With over 104 million servings made in production, Chef leverages ChefOS, an AI platform for food manipulation, to offer a Robotics-as-a-Service solution that helps industry-leading food companies increase production volume and meet demand. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Chef aims to empower humans to do what humans do best by accelerating the advent of intelligent machines. Visit https://chefrobotics.ai to learn more.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chef-robotics-physical-ai-models-can-now-automate-baked-goods-packing-302756923.html

SOURCE Chef Robotics

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Chef Robotics Physical AI Models Can Now Automate Baked Goods Packing

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chef Robotics, a leader in physical AI for the food industry, today announced that Chef robots can now automate tray assembly for baked goods packing. The application places baked products, such as burger buns, chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, butter cookies, biscuits, fortune cookies, granola bars, rusks, and shortbreads into trays and packaging containers before sealing.

Watch Chef robots in action.

Baked goods packing has historically been difficult to automate for high-mix production. Each item behaves differently on the production line—a granola bar compresses under the wrong grip, while a biscotti or rusk can crack if placed at the wrong angle. Surface textures range from glazed and smooth to crumbly and irregular, and strict presentation requirements leave little room for error. This variability has made it challenging for automation systems to reliably handle baked goods at production speeds, leaving food manufacturers dependent on manual labor and traditional bakery equipment.

To address this, Chef built its baked goods packing application on its existing piece-picking capability, which uses Chef’s AI-powered computer vision and physical AI models trained across diverse real-world production environments. This allows Chef robots to assess each item’s position, shape, and orientation in real time and determine how to pick the items from the pan and place them quickly and precisely without damaging them.

The baked goods packing application supports four distinct placement capabilities.

First, Chef’s vision system detects the angle at which each item sits in the pan and reorients it after picking, placing it on the tray at the exact angle required, regardless of its original position, enabling retail-ready presentation for SKUs that require precise angular placement.

Second, Chef robots can place multiple baked goods into the same packaging container in a single automated pass, completing full tray assembly without manual intervention.

Third, for packaging containers with multiple small compartments, Chef robots can precisely place items into each designated section, including multiple items in the same compartment, using Chef’s AI vision model to detect compartment positions and orientations in real time.

Fourth, Chef’s vision system identifies the exact center of each tray and places every item at a predefined offset from that center, ensuring a uniform, consistent arrangement across every pack regardless of how trays arrive on the conveyor.

For food manufacturers evaluating bakery systems and baked goods packaging automation, the application offers higher throughput, reduced labor dependency, and consistent presentation across shifts. The capability runs on Chef’s existing robotic hardware and software, allowing manufacturers to deploy it without requiring any changes to their production lines.

Chef’s baked goods packing application is available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the UK and is included as part of Chef’s robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) pricing model.

About Chef Robotics
Chef is the first company to have commercialized a scalable AI-driven food robotics solution. With over 104 million servings made in production, Chef leverages ChefOS, an AI platform for food manipulation, to offer a Robotics-as-a-Service solution that helps industry-leading food companies increase production volume and meet demand. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Chef aims to empower humans to do what humans do best by accelerating the advent of intelligent machines. Visit https://chefrobotics.ai to learn more.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chef-robotics-physical-ai-models-can-now-automate-baked-goods-packing-302756923.html

SOURCE Chef Robotics

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Air Products to Expand Industrial Gas Supply for Samsung Electronics’ Next-Generation Semiconductor Fab in South Korea

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New investment underscores the company’s long-term commitment to Korea and its leading role in the global semiconductor industry 

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Air Products (NYSE:APD), a world-leading industrial gases company and serving Samsung globally, today announced it has been selected by Samsung to supply industrial gases for its new advanced semiconductor fab in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.

Under the agreement, Air Products will build, own and operate multiple state-of-the-art production facilities and a bulk specialty gas supply system to supply nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and hydrogen for Samsung’s new semiconductor fab. The new facilities are expected to come onstream in multiple phases from 2028 through 2030.

Air Products has a long track record of executing multiple phase expansions in Pyeongtaek to support Samsung’s growing manufacturing needs. This latest project represents Air Products’ largest investment to date in the semiconductor industry and will establish Pyeongtaek as the company’s single largest operations site globally supporting the electronics industry. 

“Air Products is honored to be selected once again by Samsung and to have their continued confidence as a trusted partner supporting their strategic growth plans,” said SR Kim, President, Air Products Korea. “This significant investment reinforces Air Products’ role as a leading global supplier to the semiconductor industry and underscores our long-standing commitment to supporting our strategic customers with safety, reliability, efficiency and excellent service.”

Air Products has served the global electronics industry for more than 40 years, supplying industrial gases safely and reliably to many of the world’s leading technology companies. The company has operated in Korea for more than 50 years and has established a strong position in electronics and manufacturing sectors.

About Air Products

Air Products (NYSE: APD) is a world-leading industrial gases company in operation for over 85 years focused on serving energy, environmental, and emerging markets and generating a cleaner future. The Company supplies essential industrial gases, related equipment and applications expertise to customers in dozens of industries, including refining, chemicals, metals, electronics, manufacturing, medical and food. As the leading global supplier of hydrogen, Air Products also develops, engineers, builds, owns and operates some of the world’s largest clean hydrogen projects, supporting the transition to low- and zero-carbon energy in the industrial and heavy-duty transportation sectors. Through its sale of equipment businesses, the Company also provides turbomachinery, membrane systems and cryogenic containers globally.

Air Products had fiscal 2025 sales of $12 billion from operations in approximately 50 countries. For more information, visit airproducts.com or follow us on LinkedInXFacebook or Instagram.

This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release and are not guarantees of future performance. While forward-looking statements are made in good faith and based on assumptions, expectations and projections that management believes are reasonable based on currently available information, actual performance and financial results may differ materially from projections and estimates expressed in the forward-looking statements because of many factors, including the risk factors described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025 and other factors disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the assumptions, beliefs or expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances upon which any such forward-looking statements are based.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/air-products-to-expand-industrial-gas-supply-for-samsung-electronics-next-generation-semiconductor-fab-in-south-korea-302757497.html

SOURCE Air Products

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