DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics / KUKA (Germany) DLR Lightweight Robot III / KUKA LBR 4 (1)

Quote onlyThe KUKA LBR 4 (2008) and LBR 4+ (2010) were sold on quotation, mostly to research labs, with no public price. Discontinued after the LBR iiwa arrived in 2013.

Discontinued · unavailableVia SSH / web / bridge7-axisTorque sensing in every joint1:1 payload-to-weightiiwa ancestor

UnavailableShipping: Not for sale. No longer sold. Remaining LBR 4+ units live in university labs and rarely reach the used market.

Remote control: On the LBR 4+, an external PC connects over Ethernet through the Fast Research Interface and streams joint or Cartesian commands at up to 1 kHz. Standard programs run in KRL on the KUKA controller.

DLR LWR III ↗History of the DLR LWR ↗Robotiq on the LWR 4+ ↗

Overview

The German Aerospace Center's third-generation lightweight arm, shown in 2003, which weighed 14 kg, carried 14 kg and was fully torque controlled with position, torque and impedance modes. KUKA licensed it in 2004 and sold it as the LBR 3, then the LBR 4 (2008) and LBR 4+ (2010), which became a common research platform for compliant control and human-robot contact. It led directly to the KUKA LBR iiwa, and its ideas shaped later torque-sensing arms like the Franka Panda.

Specifications

Category	Robot arms · Industrial & legacy
Released	2003
Country	Germany
Availability	Discontinued · unavailable
Programmability	Full SDK
Best for	Professionals & labs
Vision sensors	No vision sensors
Actuators	Brushless / direct-drive motors
Audio	No audio
Compute type	Proprietary / undisclosed
Remote control	Via SSH / web / bridge
DOF	7
Reach	936 mm (LWR III)
Payload	14 kg (LWR III), 7 kg (LBR 4+)
Repeatability	Not published
Weight	14 kg (LWR III), about 16 kg (LBR 4+)
Controller	DLR control electronics integrated in the arm (LWR III), KUKA KR C2 lr cabinet (LBR 4 / 4+)
Sensors	Joint torque sensors and motor and link position sensors in all seven joints
SDK	DLR in-house control stack (LWR III), KUKA KRL plus the Fast Research Interface (FRI) for external real-time control on the LBR 4+