Page 8 - Industrial Technology EXTRA 25th January 2021

handle thousands of different products going to the when changes or modifications to a production line
constantly changing locations needed in a multi- are kept to a minimum. Since every action of a
product manufacturing process. What if a conveyor robot is explicitly specified at this stage, the robot
system could change? Perhaps change paths to must be taken off-line when changes are required
avoid congested areas in a factory? Or change and manually reprogrammed. This negatively
destinations to deliver a work piece to the optimal impacts production times.
machining station? The second stage is for Veterans and is the most
These are the kinds of problems advanced common stage today for industrial manufacturers. It
robotics solves with the use of automated guided is characterised by the use of the digital twin for
vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots complete system validation and for building control
(AMRs) in tandem with an advanced software, algorithms for the entire production line. Utilizing a
solutions and application development platform. digital twin of manufacturing provides deep insights
Typically, the goal of using the robots is to on how to proceed in later stages of the journey by
deliver material from point A to point B with relative enabling the simulation of the entire facility.
ease. But it is not as simple as just introducing Significant productivity improvements at this stage
AGVs or AMRs to a facility. Much of the investment can be achieved from concurrently updating
value comes from the optimisation and coordination multiple robots running off the same programmable
of the advanced robotic technologies. In our logic controllers, reducing downtime on the
experience, helping companies adopt advanced production floor.
robotics into their manufacturing processes is a Progressing into the third or Pioneer stage,
four-stage journey. manufacturers can start automating more of the
Stage one, or the Entrant stage, is defined by the production process. Built on top of the insights
use of fixed automation robotics or similar learned from the digital twin and augmented with
technologies where most operations are feedback from IoT sensors, task-based
programmed manually. All process planning is done programming can be implemented for robots
by a human, possibly with the aid of software, and throughout the facility. This greatly reduces the time
the tasks are then assigned to specific robots to needed to program robots to accommodate a design
function at specific locations and times. This or process change. Simple commands can be used
approach works well when producing high volumes, to automatically adjust the robot based on a closed-
loop calibration between the physical environment
and the digital twin.
The final stage, called the Visionary stage, is
where advanced robotics initiatives become highly
autonomous, delivering near complete autonomy of
the robots. This is also where AGVs and AMRs
become highly effective, replacing static conveyor
belts and a linear process path with advanced,
mobile robotics. Now production changes can
almost be as simple as inputting the number of
products required and how many variations are
needed. From that information, the system will

January 2021 • INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY EXTRA • p8