How SMEs can use an industrial metaverse to explore and deploy robotic solutions rapidly
technology is focused on overall lifecycle considerations, and VR focuses on interactions between physical objects. A metaverse combines digital twins and VR into a purpose-built virtual environment that supports real-time interactions between the digital objects and people. It’s often associated with gaming but is increasingly applied to business and industrial activities. Welcome to the iguverse Igus has developed the iguverse metaverse to support engineering interactions in industrial environments, such as developing and deploying robotic systems. The iguverse can be implemented through Igus Robot Control (iRC) software. This free and license-free application enables users to control various types of robots, including delta robots, cobots (robot arms), and gantry robots. It provides users with a 3D interface and over 100 sample programs. System requirements to implement iRC include a PC (minimum of an Intel i5 CPU) with Windows 10 or 11 (64-Bit) with 500 MB of free disk space and Ethernet or wireless networking connectivity.
this is a three-axis linear gantry robot like model DLE-RG-0001- AC-500-500-100 with a workspace of 500 x 500 x 100 mm or a two- axis xy actuator like model DLE- LG-0012-AC-800-500 with an 800 x 500 mm workspace (Figure 1). Designers can define movements with a few mouse clicks and use the 3D model to ensure the required movements are feasible, even before purchasing the robot. In addition to the iRC software, the robot controller is a key element in the iguverse development environment. For example, the model IRC-LG12-02000 is for 48 V motors, has seven inputs and seven outputs, and has a 10 m cable for connecting to the robot. The IRC controllers include motor drive modules for various sizes of bipolar stepper motors and are available configurable or preconfigured.
It also has several interfaces for system integration, including: ■ Programmable logic controller (PLC) interface for control via the digital inputs and outputs, especially for easy starting and stopping of programs via a PLC or pushbutton
■ Modbus TCP interface for control via a PLC or PC
■ Common Robotic Interface (CRI) Ethernet for control and configuration using a PLC or PC ■ Robot Operating System (ROS) interface for operating the robot using ROS ■ Interface for object detection cameras ■ Cloud interface for remotely monitoring the robot’s state
The software's core is a 3D digital twin of the robot being programmed. An example of
Figure 1: Example of a 3D VR digital twin of a three-axis gantry robot in the iguverse. (Image source: Igus)
18
Powered by FlippingBook