Franka Research 3: a 7-degree-of-freedom arm that estimates contact forces, according to its maker

Each joint of the arm carries a torque sensor. According to the manufacturer, these sensors finely estimate contact forces from outside, and a fast control loop lets the robot react quickly in a collision.

The arm has 7 degrees of freedom. Franka Robotics credits it with dexterity close to that of a human, which lets it move in tight spaces and work around obstacles.

The robot is designed and manufactured in Germany, the company says.

Researchers can control the arm directly from their own computer. According to the official page, the open-source libfranka interface can send real-time commands at 1 kHz, with 5 different interfaces.