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Transitioning to Semantic Information
“We simply tell the robot to
attach a specific component to
the mounting rail,” says Wurm.
“And that’s exactly what it
does.” On a small scale, this
task describes what batch size 1
is all about. It involves
manufacturing or assembling a
product in a wide variety of
variants that contain different
components. The robot gets
the information on how to
manufacture a product from an
associated software model.
Although this CAD/CAM
(Computer Aided Design and
Manufacturing) model is
incomprehensible for
conventional robots, the new
prototype can understand such
models. In a sense, it is as if the
robot can understand different
languages, thus eliminating the
need to program its
movements and processes.
To do this, the prototype
successively divides tasks, such
as the general command
“assemble,” from the software
construction plan into doable
units, such as “pick” and “hand
over” until it finally moves an
arm or opens its grippers. The
robot itself also decides which
task each arm should perform.
To make this possible, the
developers have enabled the
prototype to raise information
from the product development
software to a semantic level.
“Product parts and process
information are semantically
converted into ontologies and
knowledge graphs,” says Wurm.
“This makes implicit information
explicit. Until now the
A great objective: With their research, Georg Wichert (left) and Kai Wurm have demonstrated that
economical batch size 1 production is possible.
things that people simply know from
experience when they are told to snap
component X onto rail Y have had to be
taught to robots in the form of code.
However, our prototype analyzes the
problem by itself and finds a corresponding
solution.”
In the case of Siemens’ prototype
demonstrator, one can witness this
process in a vastly simplified form on a
monitor to the right of the robot arms.
The monitor displays two rows of color
tiles, each of which bears words such as
“assemble” (left-hand column) and “pick”
(right-hand column). These tiles gradually
move upward in a manner similar to
scrolling down a long webpage. The tiles
depict each assembly step. On the
monitor to the left, the demonstrator
shows the information that the robot
arms receive at the beginning of a
production process. This information
consists of a 3D depiction of the
surrounding area and the objects it
contains. Above the demonstrator are two
more screens that show what the robot
arms are currently seeing through their
integrated cameras.
Toward Self-Correcting Systems
Siemens Corporate Technologies’
prototype system can also
correct faults without having to
be told beforehand that this is
an option. If a part slips, for
example, one of its arms will
find the part as long as it is
within its camera’s field of
vision. The arm will then pick
up the component and adjust
all of its subsequent movements
so that it can still install
it correctly. And if the component
needs to be snapped into
place on the other side of an
assembly, the arm will hand the component
to its counterpart. These groundbreaking
developments are part of the
Company Core Technology (CCT) Future
of Automation program. CCTs enable
Siemens to focus on crucial fields of
innovation such as digital twins, artificial
intelligence, and additive manufacturing.
Naturally, assembling control cabinets is
just the beginning. Siemens developers
envision self-organizing production
facilities that responds to autonomously
changing production requirements,
continuously optimize their operations,
and are populated by robots that assist
one another. Such facilities would be a
revolutionary step – essentially systems
that feed themselves with design data,
corrects faults, and calculates all movements
and actions on their own. “There
are many other researchers who are trying
to solve this problem. But there is nothing
comparable to what we have developed
on the market yet,” says Wurm.
• Sandra Zistl
Taken from Pictures of the Future, the Siemens
Magazine for Research and Innovation
For more information,
write to insight.in@siemens.com
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