Agile Robots Unveils Intelligent Robotics Powered by Advanced Force Control and Physical AI at ROBOT TECHNOLOGY JAPAN 2026 Agile Robots, a global leader in intelligent robotics headquartered in Munich, Germany, today officially announced its participation at ROBOT TECHNOLOGY JAPAN (RTJ) 2026 (Hall E, Booth E01, Aichi Sky Expo).
Under the vision of “Connecting Artificial Intelligence to the Physical World,” Agile Robots is showcasing how advanced force control and Physical AI enable robots to sense, adapt, and interact intelligently with their environment. By combining real-time force feedback with AI-driven decision-making, Agile Robots delivers intelligent collaborative robots, humanoid robots and next generation automation solutions for demanding applications across automotive, electronics, precision assembly, and healthcare.
Solving the “Last Millimetre Problem” with Force Control and Physical AI
Traditional robots rely on fixed, pre-programmed paths and often fail when parts are slightly misaligned. Agile Robots overcomes this challenge through industry-leading force control and Physical AI. Leveraging high-precision force sensing, joint-level torque sensing, and ultra-fast 1 kHz control cycles, robots continuously adjust their movements based on real-time tactile feedback.
This enables reliable automation of complex, contact-rich tasks such as precision insertion, delicate electronics assembly, and variable-part handling—applications that have traditionally been difficult to automate. With over 20,000 systems deployed worldwide, Agile Robots is bringing Physical AI into real-world production environments and advancing the next generation of intelligent manufacturing.
This breakthrough significantly expands the boundaries of industrial automation. Tasks that have traditionally defied automation, such as precise component insertion, delicate electronics assembly, the handling of variable parts, and other contact-rich production steps, can now be executed with remarkable Intelligence and Efficiency at scale.
Exhibition Highlights at RTJ 2026: Driving Industries and Embodied AI forward Driven by quality and efficiency
Diana7 Automotive Wiring Solution
Automotive & Industrial Manufacturing
Agile Robots is showcasing its specialized automotive automation solutions, led by the Diana 7 Automotive Wiring Harness Management Solution. This system leverages a proprietary seven-axis intelligent force-controlled robotic arm alongside machine vision and the Agile Core platform to fully automate cable routing, arrangement, and bundling for complex automotive components like cockpit wiring systems and domain controllers. Alongside it, the Engine Cylinder Head Assembly, powered by the Thor 7 Pro collaborative robot, simulates real-world engine valve assembly. By continuously monitoring insertion forces in real time, the Thor 7 Pro accurately verifies successful placement into the valve guide, eliminating the component jamming and damage caused by minor positional deviations typical of conventional assembly processes.
Thor Serie Automotive Engine Head Assembly
The MicroFactory: Intelligent Robotics for Scalable Production
The MicroFactory demonstrates how the Agile Robots platform can create a compact, end-to-end intelligent production line. In this live demonstration, the Thor 3, Thor 7, and Diana 7 work seamlessly together to perform packaging, material handling, and assembly tasks with high precision, efficiency, and safety, bridging the gap between research innovations and industrial applications.
Rehabilitation & Wellness
The X-SPA Rehabilitation Therapy Robot combines advanced robotics with traditional therapeutic techniques to deliver personalised healthcare services. Equipped with a high-precision robotic arm and an intelligent vision system, the robot rapidly captures human posture data. Through AI-powered control algorithms, it accurately identifies therapeutic points and delivers targeted treatments, enhancing the effectiveness of rehabilitation and wellness therapies.
AgileCore Operating System
AgileCore is Agile Robots’ proprietary robotics operating system and software platform, serving as the intelligence layer behind its automation solutions. It connects robots, vision systems, force-control devices, mobile robots, and PLCs into a unified platform, reducing development complexity and accelerating deployment. With a “develop once, deploy across devices” architecture, AgileCore enables rapid workflow creation through intuitive drag-and-drop programming and supports multiple industrial communication protocols.
Empowering AI & Robotics Research
Accelerating Embodied AI Research
Built to give AI a body, the Franka Research 3 (FR3), developed by Franka Robotics (now part of the Agile Robots group), is widely used by global tech companies and research institutes such as NVIDIA, Toyota Research Institute and son on, to develop Embodied AI. At RTJ, Franka Robotics is displaying two primary advancements for this platform:
AI Policy Platform (FR3 Duo with NVIDIA® GR00T N1.6): This integrated platform provides researchers with a unified workflow spanning data collection, model training, and real-world policy deployment, representing a cutting-edge “brain-and-body” approach to embodied intelligence research.
Mobile FR3 Duo: Extending the reference platform into dynamic, mobile environments via a Tactile Mobile Robot (TMR). By combining dual-arm manipulation, rich perception, and omnidirectional mobility, it enables data collection and policy execution beyond fixed workstations.
Embodies AI Ecosystem integrated with Franka FR3 and Diana 7
This demo is demonstrating its open teleoperation ecosystem, allowing humans to control and teach robots naturally using everyday movements and touch feedback. Engineers and researchers can operate the Franka FR3 and Diana 7 arms seamlessly through the Franka Control Interface (FCI) and the ROS 2 operating system. The Franka Control Interface (FCI) is designed for roboticists who require fine-grained control over the robot and access to real-time sensor data. It is ideal for motion control research and the development of highly specific behaviors, unachievable with most robots. ROS 2 (Robot Operating System) is an open-source, flexible middleware framework used to build complex robot applications. Integrating multiple teleoperation devices through unified control architecture:
Teleoperation (GELLO): Allows operators to move a smaller physical model to guide the large robot naturally.
Touch & Feel Feedback (Haply): Features force-feedback, allowing users to “feel” physical resistance and weight when the robot touches an object.
Precision 3D Navigation (SpaceMouse): Uses a specialised 3D mouse to remotely steer the robot’s hands directly and smoothly.
Full-Body Motion Capture (MOXI): Uses wearable sensors to track an operator’s arm and torso movements, mirroring them on the robot in real time.
FR3 Duo Gello Teleoperation for Data Collection
This year, 3 major announcements brought Agile Robots into the spotlight: the launch of its full-size industrial humanoid robot, Agile ONE, and its acquisition of thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering, a 75-year-old industrial automation leader. Last but not the least, Agile Robots has entered a strategic research partnership with Google DeepMind to accelerate the development of next-generation intelligent robots for real-world industrial applications. By combining Google DeepMind’s Gemini Robotics foundation model with Agile Robots’ scalable industrial robotics platform, the collaboration aims to advance robots with stronger reasoning, adaptability, and autonomous decision-making capabilities.
FR3 Duo AI inference powered by Gemini Robotics
The next evolution in Physical AI: Agile ONE Humanoid Robot
Agile ONE Humanoid Robot
Together, these milestones highlight the rise of Agile Robots as one of the most influential players in industrial embodied intelligence.
At Agile Robots, our vision has always been to bridge artificial intelligence and the physical world. Since day one, we have pursued the convergence of embodied intelligence and general-purpose AI, building a full-stack platform that spans advanced robotics hardware, AI software, foundation models, and large-scale real-world deployment. We believe the future of robotics lies in the seamless integration of perception, reasoning, and action—enabling machines not only to execute tasks, but to understand, adapt, and continuously improve in dynamic environments.
Agile ONE Humanoid Robots in action
Realizing Physical AI will require more than breakthroughs in algorithms alone. It will be driven by millions of intelligent force controlled robots operating in the real world, generating the data, experience, and feedback needed to accelerate learning at scale. By creating a self-reinforcing cycle of robot deployment, data, and intelligence, Agile Robots is helping lay the foundation for the next generation of intelligent automation and autonomous systems—and bringing the era of Physical AI closer to reality.
About Agile Robots (www.agile-robots.com)
Headquartered in Munich, Germany, Agile Robots is a global leader in intelligent robotics. Founded in 2018 as a spin-off from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the deep-tech unicorn manufactures its world-class solutions across more than 15 production sites worldwide, including Germany, China, and India. Leveraging extensive expertise in force control, robotic perception, decision-making, machine vision, operating systems, and deep learning, Agile Robots serves a broad range of industries, including automotive, manufacturing, consumer electronics, healthcare, logistics.
About Franka Robotics (www.franka.de) (An Agile Robots company)
Franka Robotics is a German, research-driven robotics company headquartered in Munich and operating globally. Founded in 2016, originated from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) as well, it is part of Agile Robots since 2023. Franka Robotics 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. To achieve this by developing the reference robotics platform that facilitates big-thinkers to explore, collaborate, create and share – thereby driving continuous advancements in robotics and AI. Franka Robotics’ endeavor is contributing to a bright future where capable AI-powered robots coexist and work alongside, enhancing everyone’s lives and progressing society.
