Accurate Robot Simulation for Industrial Manufacturing Processes using FMI and DCP Standards

Abstract

Increased demand for customized products and reduced manufacturing times are key drivers towards modern, automated manufacturing systems. Manufacturing companies increasingly rely on simulation models of their manufacturing systems, with the goal to optimize critical production parameters and programming of their industrial assets. Simulation driven optimization concepts like digital twin and virtual commissioning are gaining popularity among manufacturing units to drive production rates higher. Manufacturing systems in the aerospace domain are highly complex, due to component size, tight tolerance requirements, and multi-tier manufacturing processes. Accurate simulations of robots and other programmable assets are needed, in order to lower the risk of collisions and manufacturing down times.In practice, this leads to inhomogeneous and even proprietary simulation environments, with different software interfaces. In this paper we introduce an accurate robotic arm simulation for industrial manufacturing robots that is based on open standards. This simulation environment is based on two open access standards, namely the Functional Mock-up Interface (FMI) and the Distributed Co-Simulation Protocol (DCP). In such a virtualized manufacturing process, the number of involved stakeholders is significantly higher. It includes software and simulation tool vendors, as well as robotic system providers. In such an environment, a modular software architecture based on open access standards is considered beneficial. The high number of aircraft customizations leads to continuous reprogramming of the involved systems. The challenge is to keep up with constant-quality manufacturing processes for aircraft components, requiring high levels of accuracy and reliability.