Future Factory with 5G

Objective

Controlling robots remotely from the cloud is a challenging use case from several aspects: wireless connectivity, cloud performance, industry protocols, etc. The effects of these aspects are investigated to build a single next-gen manufacturing environment that is as good as a state-of-the-art wired local control based solution from the robot cells productivity's point of view.

Modular robotics

Use case: Smart servo swarm with task dependent xDOF reconfiguration​ (e.g., 1x6DoF vs. 2x3DoF vs. 6x1DoF​)

Cloud supports the system with

• Process optimization for maximum throughput;

• Enhance collaboration among servos;

• Plan kinematics, dynamics online.

Challenge: dynamic reconfiguration of modular robots

Digital twin

(Kind of) definition: "Coupled model of the real machine that operates in the cloud platform and simulates the health condition with an integrated knowledge from both data driven analytical algorithms as well as other available physical knowledge."

Key characteristics:

• Connectivity: Real time connectivity between the physical object and its digital counterpart is vital. Data are obtained by sensors on the physical object and embedded in its environment, and is communicated using IoT technology.​

• Reprogrammability: Through the sensors on the physical product, artificial intelligence technologies, and predictive analytics in the cloud, digital twins can adjust themselves automatically in order to let the physical product be up to date and work as good as possible.​

Business model:

Q: Who will operate and manage the digital twin?​

A: The production line owner operates and manages ​the real robot and​ the sensors and IoT devices within the robot cell, while Ericsson manages its digital twin, the wireless connectivity (5G) and the cloud platform with AI and analytics solutions.

Team

István HORVÁTH, Dániel MAKÓ, Tamás MOLNÁR, József PETŐ, Levente VAJDA, Attila VIDÁCS, Gábor FEHÉR