Digital twin for fast and flexible programming and control of cooperating robots in reconfigurable production systems

• Κύριος συγγραφέας: Δημοσθενόπουλος, Δημοσθένης
• Άλλοι συγγραφείς: Dimosthenopoulos, Dimosthenis
• Γλώσσα: English
• Έκδοση: 2022
• Θέματα: Multi-robot control; Digital twin; Reconfiguration; Asset administration shell; Flexibility; Έλεγχος πολλαπλών ρομπότ; Ψηφιακό δίδυμο; Αναδιαμόρφωση; Ευελιξία

The shift from mass production to product personalization is the main enabler behind Industry4.0 and drives the development of modern production systems. This in turn creates the need to deploy flexible and reconfigurable assembly systems. This Thesis investigates the use of Digital Twinning in such production systems for enabling system flexibility and reconfiguration through various functionalities. The suggested Digital Twin (DT) infrastructure involves two main components: a) Virtual representation of the shopfloor, combining multiple sensor data and CAD models. The digital shopfloor is rendered in the 3D environment exploiting the capabilities provided by Robot Operating System (ROS) framework, and b) Real-time multi-robot behaviour control (using various functionalities). The communication layer among the physical and the virtual agents in the level of the Digital Twin is realized on top of the ROS framework. The integration of the DT in an overall production system with various components (like planning systems) is realised through the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) and a specific resigned ROS-AAS connector responsible for translating data between the two formats. Finally, an orchestration system (Workflow Manager) that is responsible for dispatching planned tasks to the assigned resources has been implemented. The developed infrastructure is applied to a use case study inspired by the consumer electronics industry focusing on the assembly of two different products, a trimmer head, and a monitor cover. Nevertheless, the proposed solution has been designed to be easily applicable to multiple similar cases.