Burr Oak Tool\u2019s use of the technology<\/A> to reduce time to market for its equipment and to train tool operators. More recently, we learned that JR Automation, a supplier of intelligent automated manufacturing and distribution technologies, is using digital twin technology to virtually commission a robotic cell developed for material handling applications.<\/P><\/p>\nAt the 2019 Siemens Automation Summit, JR Automation\u2019s Matt Cagle, engineering manager, and Marc Walters, senior controls engineer, described their development of a patent pending robotic flexible sortation system (RFSS) prototype using digital twin technology. The RFSS includes a Fanuc R2000-iC\/165F robot; proximity sensors, reed sensors, and photoelectric sensors (more than 25 of these sensors were simulated in the digital twin); aSiemens S7-1515F PLC; and a Siemens TP1200 Comfort HMI. Software used to develop and simulate the RFSS included Siemens TIA Portal v15.1, Siemens PLC Sim Advanced, and Siemens Process Simulate.<\/P><\/p>\n
Up to 1500 sorts per hour<\/STRONG><\/P>
\n
The target application for the RFSS is, essentially, \u201cany operation that sorts product,\u201d said Cagle.Potential customers include e-commerce companies like Amazon and Walmart, as well as the automotive, defense, and aerospace industries for kitting, sequencing, and kit assembly operations.<\/P>
\n
\n\n
\n
<\/DIV>
\n<\/DIV>
\n<\/DIV>
\n<\/SECTION>
\n
Cagle noted the RFSS was designed to be easily scalable, placed into tight footprints, and capable of interfacing to \u201cvirtually any delivery system\u2014from conveyors, to autonomous vehicles, to fork trucks.\u201d The size of items the RFSS can sort is limited only to the payload of the industrial robot used in the system, he said, robots in the prototype system have a lifting capacity of 165 kg but some are capable of up to 1350 kg (2975 lbs).<\/P><\/p>\n
Cagle pointed out that each robot in the RFSS is capable of 500 sorts per hour and that the RFSS is designed to allow up to three robots to be placed in series and controlled by one PLC, yielding a throughput of 1500 sorts per hour. \u201cCommon sortation systems capable of 10,500 sorts per hour typically occupy approximately 25,000 sq. ft., but the RFSS system is capable of the same number of sorts while occupying only 12,500 sq. ft.,\u201d he said.<\/P>
\n
\u201cThe design of the RFSS also limits down time due to maintenance activities,\u201d Cagle added. \u201cDuring maintenance on a multi-robot RFSS, a single robot can be bypassed while the others continue to run.\u201d<\/P><\/p>\n
Real world discoveries<\/STRONG><\/P>
\n
\u201cDuring development, we quickly found value in the virtual commissioning process,\u201d said Cagle, \u201cas we discovered mechanical interference and programming issues we would not have seen prior to building out the system without virtual commissioning.\u201d<\/P><\/p>\n
According to Cagle, the typical development process for this kind of robotic cell involves programming and mechanical design teams working together, but this collaboration doesn\u2019t tend to happen until those teams are on the shop floor physically building the system. \u201cWith early virtual commissioning, you can see if the locations where you\u2019re expecting to mount devices may be wrong\u2014or the space needed for those devices may be missing,\u201d he said. \u201cVirtual commissioning provides early feedback to mechanical personnel, so they don\u2019t have to scrap real world designs later.\u201d<\/P><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
During development, we quickly found value in the virtual commissioning process as we discovered mechanical interference and programming issues we would not have seen prior to building out the system without virtual commissioning.<\/DIV>
\n
<\/DIV>
\n<\/DIV>
\n<\/DIV>
\n<\/DIV>
\n<\/DIV>
\n
He added that having the ability to visualize the complete system in advance of the build means that the customer can also have input to improve the design and help highlight potential safety issues.<\/P><\/p>\n
Applied technologies<\/STRONG><\/P>
\n
JR Automation built their simulations of the robotic cell in TIA Portal, using Siemens Simatic S7-PLCSim Advanced to incorporate real world PLC and HMI data. With this combination of software, \u201cwe\u2019re not just simulating a robot, were bringing all the real-world devices in the system into the 3D world,\u201d said Walters. This allows for complete virtual debugging of the devices, he said. \u201cRobot manufacturers have simulation tools for their robots, but nothing around it. PLCSim Advanced brings all this together.\u201d<\/P><\/p>\n
Using TIA Portal with PLCSim Advanced, \u201cyou can communicate with the simulated environment and the hardware on the floor,\u201d Walters explained. \u201cThis software brings robots, PLCs, and HMIs together so that you can see all interlocks and handshake signals to determine if anything is missing. For us, the digital twin means that we can run an entire virtual material handling system on a PC. The PLC dictates how the robot handles materials and we can verify it in PLCSim Advanced. Then we use PLCSim Advanced to simulate the HMI in remote mode for debugging and commissioning.\u201d<\/P><\/p>\n
Walters added that JR Automation also uses Siemens Process Simulate to create digital scenarios with multiple machines, robots, conveyors, and sensors. With Process Simulate, you can verify reach and cycle times, and do event-based simulations, he said. Having the ability to do this in one environment means that there\u2019s \u201cno need to know multiple software or robot packages. It\u2019s robot agnostic and shines with multiple robots.\u201d<\/P><\/p>\n
As with the Burr Oak Tools virtual commissioning application referenced above, a key aspect of this JR Automation project is the high-speed PLC connection to the simulation.<\/P><\/p>\n
\u201cOPC communications are too slow to connect virtual PLCs and simulation,\u201d said Walters, as they are in the 300-500 millisecond range. But the communication pipe connecting the virtual model and the virtual PLC in PLCSim Advanced allows for synchronized communications in the 15-20 millisecond range.<\/P><\/p>\n
Return on investment<\/STRONG><\/P>
\n
Cagle said they know they saved weeks of debugging time with this combination of software, but total ROI (return on investment) remains to be determined. \u201cThis is the first project we\u2019ve done with this and we just completed it in April,\u201d he said.<\/P><\/p>\n
Beyond initial ROI, another benefit Cagle highlighted is the ability for JR Automation to use this software to train users on use of the system. \u201cIn this virtual world, people can push buttons and try things to see what happens,\u201d he said. \u201cAlso, we can make faults happen in the virtual world to train users on how to effectively recover from them.\u201d<\/P><\/p>\n
Read the story at AutomationWorld.com here. <\/A><\/P>
\n![\"Automation](\"http:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/09\/Automation-World-image-2.jpg\" "\\"Automation")
<\/span><\/P><\/p>\n<\/DIV>
\n<\/DIV>
\n<\/SECTION>
\n<\/DIV>
\n<\/SECTION>
\n<\/DIV>
\n<\/DIV><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This article “Virtual Commissioning of a Robotic Cell,” was published in Automation World, July 25, 2019, and was written by David Greenfield , Director of Content\/Editor-in-Chief. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51290,"featured_media":381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6],"industry":[],"product":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-process-simulation"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/09\/Automation-World-image-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/tecnomatix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/tecnomatix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/tecnomatix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/tecnomatix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/tecnomatix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/tecnomatix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":382,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/tecnomatix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377\/revisions\/382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/tecnomatix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/tecnomatix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/tecnomatix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/tecnomatix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/tecnomatix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=377"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/tecnomatix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=377"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/tecnomatix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}