Industrial Robot Digital Twins for Multi-Vendor Context Simulation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial automation systems face challenges in accurately simulating the operation of multi-axis industrial robots across different vendors, as existing vendor-specific simulation platforms fail to accurately model the entire industrial context and require rewriting robot programs, leading to less accurate and labor-intensive simulations.
Innovation Solution
A control design and testing system that uses a three-dimensional virtual model to simulate industrial automation systems, incorporating physics modeling and aspect metadata to accurately simulate robot operations, and allows integration of vendor-specific digital twins into a common simulation environment, enabling coordinated operation assessment and execution of actual robot programs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If vendor-specific simulation platforms are used to simulate industrial robot operations, then simulation capability for individual robot programs is improved, but simulation accuracy of the entire industrial context deteriorates and program rewriting is required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple vendor-specific simulation platforms into a single unified simulation environment that can handle multiple robot programs from different vendors simultaneously. This integration allows the system to maintain the specialized simulation capabilities of each vendor platform while achieving comprehensive industrial context simulation that no single vendor platform could provide alone.
Solution Approach 2:
The unified simulation environment is designed to be vendor-agnostic and capable of executing robot programs from multiple different vendors without requiring program rewriting. This universal platform maintains the specialized functions of individual vendor platforms while adding the ability to simulate complex multi-robot industrial scenarios that span across different vendor ecosystems.
2Ease of operation
If vendor-specific simulation platforms are used, then robot program execution is enabled, but labor-intensive program rewriting is required
Solution Approach 1:
The unified simulation environment creates virtual copies of vendor-specific robot programs and executes them within the unified platform. Instead of requiring users to rewrite programs for each vendor platform, the system copies the original vendor-specific programs and runs them in the unified environment, preserving the original program code while achieving cross-vendor simulation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The unified simulation environment acts as an intermediary layer between different vendor-specific simulation platforms. It provides a common execution environment that can interface with multiple vendor platforms simultaneously, eliminating the need for program rewriting by mediating between the original vendor programs and the simulation execution requirements.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a unified simulation environment is created to integrate multiple vendor platforms, then simulation versatility is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The unified simulation environment is segmented into modular components, each responsible for interfacing with specific vendor platforms. This segmentation allows the system to maintain versatility across multiple vendors while managing complexity through modular architecture, where each module can be independently developed, tested, and maintained.
4Measurement precision
If high-fidelity physics modeling is implemented, then simulation accuracy is improved, but computational resources required increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial physics modeling, implementing high-fidelity physics simulations only for critical robot operations and interactions that require accurate prediction, while using simplified models for less critical aspects. This selective approach maintains simulation accuracy where needed while reducing overall computational resource consumption.
Data Source
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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.