Use Case

Robot position adjustment

Description:

The facility consists of three production lines, each of which includes 3 robots. Before shipping, the basic configuration, spatial alignment and positioning of the robots were set and tested by the machine manufacturer on site during factory commissioning. The software configurations should be applied to all three lines. However, no separate factory commissioning took place for Line 2 and Line 3. The entire system was dismantled and shipped to America. Commissioning at the end customer was planned for 3 months later. During this time, the PLC program and the robot program should be optimized. All changes and adjustments were tested in advance using the digital twin. The current robot program from the factory commissioning was used in the simulation of the robots, which recreated the entire system in the Mechatronics Concept Designer. The PLC was available in a hardware-in-the-loop network and the robots were simulated using the Virtual Robot Controller (VRC).

Challenge:

When the digital machine was started, it turned out that all the robots moved 180 degrees to the mechanics. This was due to a difference between the mechanical setup at factory commissioning and the final design. This resulted in incorrect positions for all 12 prepared robot programs. These had to be revised before being put into operation by the end customer. Because this error was detected during the simulation, the robot programmer had enough time to make the corrections. The correction work took a total of 2 weeks.

Solution:

Using our simulation prevented a 2-week commissioning delay, helping to meet production schedules. Additionally, undesirable machine behavior was avoided, preventing real-world damage. Simulation proved to be a crucial tool to identify and resolve potential problems prior to commissioning and helped ensure a smooth start-up of the production facility.

Conclusion:

This use case shows how the use of a simulation and a digital twin helped detect problems with the positioning of the robots and fix them before commissioning. This resulted in time and cost savings as well as potential damage avoidance. The simulation proved to be a crucial tool for the successful commissioning of the system by the end customer.