Work

Establishment and Synchronisation of Digital Twins for Multi-robot Systems in Manufacturing

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: In Industry 5.0, digital twins have emerged as powerful tools for revolutionizing the operation and control of industrial robots. However, a critical challenge is how to effectively synchronise the establishment and ongoing operations of physical devices with their virtual counterparts to ensure seamless performances. To address the challenge, this paper introduces a state machine-driven method to orchestrate hardware interface establishment and synchronisation processes for multi-robot systems in manufacturing. By leveraging state machines to model the lifecycle of hardware interfaces and their corresponding controllers, a systematic solution is provided for managing transitions and real-time synchronisation across multiple industrial robots. It not only enhances the initialisation efficiency but also ensures consistent system operations. The proposed method is validated through detailed case studies that demonstrate visible improvements in the deployment of manufacturing systems containing multiple industrial robots with different vendors and protocol interfaces. This work contributes to constructing digital twins that can dynamically adapt to evolving industrial environments.

Source: Procedia CIRP

DOI: 10.1016/j.procir.2025.02.152

Authors: Zhihao Liu, Sichao Liu, Tianyu Wang, Lihui Wang, Xi Vincent Wang

Institution: KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Digital Transformation in Industry

Subfield: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: diamond

Funders: Digital Futures, H2020 Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies