ABB YuMi IRB 14000 vs Franka FR3: Dual-Arm Precision Versus a Single Research Arm

YuMi is a dual-arm design: each arm has seven degrees of freedom, 14 in total (“Degrees of Freedom (DOF) in Humanoid Robots”), which allows symmetrical work, like a person assembling a small component with both hands. The payload is 0.5 kg per arm, the whole robot weighs 38 kg, and force sensors are built into each arm. The FR3 is a single seven-axis arm with a 3 kg payload, 855 mm reach, ±0.1 mm repeatability, a height of 110 cm and a mass of 18 kg. It carries a torque sensor in each of its seven joints and so regulates force at 1 kHz. The controller is based on an Intel processor and Linux, and open software — the libfranka library and ROS integration — eases research work.

The sixfold difference in payload is a misleading indicator, because YuMi has two arms; together they lift 1 kg, so the FR3 is still three times stronger, but with one hand only. More importantly, two arms allow tasks a single one cannot: holding a part with one, inserting with the other. With a single arm this has to be solved with fixturing, that is, tooling. In fairness, YuMi's specification has lower confidence: it has not been independently confirmed from a second source, so check the key parameters in the manufacturer's datasheet; “How to Read a Robot Datasheet” explains how. Precise strain-wave gears made by firms such as Harmonic Drive work in the joints of such arms, and torque measurement is a market where ATI Industrial Automation also operates.

The price of YuMi is not public. ABB does not state it, and a local distributor has not confirmed an offer for this particular model, so we give no figure. In Poland ABB is represented by automation resellers, among them Rob Expert of Szubin, but YuMi availability must be confirmed by enquiry. In addition, ABB is concentrating new deployments on the ABB GoFa CRB 15000 and ABB SWIFTI CRB 1300; YuMi stays in the portfolio but is no longer a front-line model.

The FR3 has no official price list. Sources give a spread from about 25,000 to 35,000 USD; at the midpoint of 30,000 USD this comes to roughly 116 thousand zloty. One European quote is 25,250 EUR with a delivery time of 17 days. These are resellers' estimates, not an official offer from Franka Robotics. No Polish Franka distributor has been confirmed, so buying usually means importing through a European supplier, with duty and transport costs if bought from outside the EU.

YuMi was designed for precision assembly of small electronic parts, where two hands act at once. A line assembling small components on a factory floor — snapping, inserting, rotating — is its natural environment.

The FR3 is a platform for research on manipulation and force interaction and for prototyping, popular in the laboratory and at the university. Open software makes it easy to test new control algorithms, including learning-based approaches described in “VLA Models: How AI Controls Humanoid Robots in 2026”. Its listed uses also include force-controlled assembly, that is, assembly steered by measured force. It is worth remembering the Franka Mobile FR3 Duo variant, a mobile platform with two FR3 arms, if two-handed action is what matters rather than a narrow tabletop station.