Robot Digital Twin Simulation for Multi-Vendor Program Execution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial automation systems face challenges in accurately simulating the entire industrial context for robots from different vendors, leading to incomplete and inaccurate simulations, and require rewriting robot programs for different testing environments, which is inefficient and labor-intensive.
Innovation Solution
A control design and testing system that uses physics modeling and aspect metadata to create a vendor-agnostic simulation environment, allowing multiple vendor-specific robots to be simulated together, with the ability to import and execute actual robot programs in their proprietary format, and providing a high-fidelity simulation of the industrial context.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If vendor-specific simulation platforms are used to simulate industrial robots, then the robot program execution is accurate for that specific vendor's robot, but the simulation environment cannot accommodate robots from different vendors and requires rewriting programs for each testing environment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a vendor-neutral simulation platform as an intermediary that receives robot programs from vendor-specific platforms through standardized interfaces. This intermediary platform executes the programs on virtual robot models without requiring program rewriting, thereby maintaining simulation accuracy while achieving multi-vendor compatibility. The standardized data exchange interface acts as the mediator between vendor-specific environments and the universal simulation platform.
Solution Approach 2:
The simulation platform is designed with universal capabilities to support multiple vendor-specific robot programs simultaneously. By implementing a standardized interface layer, the system achieves multi-functionality where a single platform can execute and simulate robots from different vendors without requiring separate vendor-specific simulation environments, thus resolving the contradiction between accuracy and adaptability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If robot programs are rewritten for different testing environments, then the simulation can be performed in different environments, but the process becomes labor-intensive and inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by establishing standardized interfaces and data formats in advance that enable direct execution of vendor-specific robot programs on the neutral simulation platform. This preliminary setup eliminates the need for program rewriting in different environments, as the interface standardization is prepared beforehand to accommodate multiple vendors' programs directly.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of rewriting programs for each environment, the system creates a virtual copy of the vendor-specific simulation environment within the neutral platform. The robot programs are copied and executed on virtual robot models that replicate the behavior of physical robots, maintaining program integrity while enabling multi-environment testing without manual reprogramming.
3Reliability
If the entire industrial context is simulated for multiple vendor robots, then comprehensive system testing is achieved, but the simulation complexity and computational requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The simulation system is segmented into modular components: vendor-specific program interfaces, virtual robot models, physics engine modules, and coordination management layers. Each segment handles specific aspects of the simulation independently, allowing comprehensive industrial context simulation to be broken down into manageable modules that can be assembled and tested separately, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining integration accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
A standardized interface layer acts as an intermediary that manages the complexity of multi-vendor robot integration. This mediator handles data exchange protocols, coordinate transformations, and timing synchronization between different vendor programs and the unified simulation environment, thereby achieving reliable system integration without exposing the full complexity to users or program developers.
Data Source
AI summary
An industrial control design and testing system allows vendor-specific digital twins of industrial robots to be imported into a vendor-agnostic simulation platform so that coordinated operation of the robots within the context of a larger automation system can be simulated and observed. Rather than requiring a designer to re-write the robot program in a format understandable by the simulation system, the design and testing system can link to instances of the vendor-specific robot simulation platforms to facilitate execution of the actual robot programs that will be installed and executed on the corresponding physical robots. This accurately simulates operation of the robots in a manner that requires less development work on the part of the designer and allows the robot's surrounding environment to be modeled and simulated more accurately than would be the case using a simulation platform specific to a particular robot vendor.