Industrial robots are ubiquitous in manufacturing today. This helps companies small and large to efficiently produce just about everything we see–from consumer goods to industrial equipment. Whether you rely on a single robot to automate a critical function or coordinate a large fleet across a more complex setup, you would naturally want to get the most value out of your robotics investment. This is where a robotic simulation solution can help.
What is robot simulation used for?
Robotic simulation software helps create virtual models of real-world assets, used to simulate multiple possible scenarios and compare the outcomes. Use this information to make the best possible decisions and feel confident that what is being implemented achieves the expected outcome. For many years, DELMIA provided solutions to simulate increasingly complex robotics installation with more and more accuracy. DELMIA Robotics is now fully integrated within of 3DEXPERIENCE platform from Dassault Systèmes. With on premise or cloud offers, it can be operational in few minutes.
Optimizing Industrial Robots
Seize key opportunities to save costs by configuring and optimizing industrial robots to operate in the most efficient way. Products are then produced in the shortest possible cycles. Simulation takes into account the shop floor layout and the amount of time it takes for a standard production cycle. With this virtual environment at your fingertips, make small adjustments, simulate new scenarios, compare the numbers and determine the best course of action. Having accurate predictions on the expected productivity and output also helps you plan ahead and validate choices to meet your company KPIs.
Another important advantage of having this virtual testing ground is to prevent accidents on the production line. Production lines today are made up of complex equipment, sometimes with more than one robot working together, or even with a human worker. With so many moving parts, collisions can be a real and costly danger if planners cannot predict how the production line will run. Simulating production runs in the virtual world can help planners arrive at a safe, yet efficient configuration.
More importantly, robotic simulation gives the user precious time to discover if a design is wrong. Having to make such changes directly on the shop floor could waste precious time in production. By having simulation capabilities, planners can validate their designs before real-world implementation. But simulation does more than just help users avoid issues — its layout optimization capabilities ensure that they can reconfigure their work cells in such a way that they can operate at the highest level of efficiency.
Saving Time on Production Planning
DELMIA Robotics provides users with unique capabilities in point cloud scanning. This allows users to scan and capture everything on the shopfloor using mobile mapping devices. This data is quickly used to recreate the 3D virtual model to commence planning. What could ordinarily take days to plan can now be done in 30 minutes. Users can quickly plan, simulate, implement new changes and get production up and running faster than ever.
Simulating Different Scenarios with Virtual Commissioning
This also brings us to the topic of Virtual Commissioning. Not everything can be validated on the shopfloor, so simulation is a necessity. Once the layout and workflows of every robot and workcell have been validated, users carry out virtual commissioning before implementing the changes in the programmable logic controller (PLC) with the confidence that the new settings will work well. Without virtual commissioning, mistakes made in the PLC program could have led to problems like collisions, resulting in costly damage to equipment as well as production delays.
Virtual Commissioning also has the advantage of helping users to train operators before new production lines are up and running. By simulating different scenarios, operators can be trained not only to operate the machines well, but also to react accordingly when machine failures occur.
So much of what industrial robots can do today can also be simulated in the virtual world—even the most complex of capabilities. Everything from pick and place to lifting materials on lines, welding, spot welding, robot painting, and even shot pinning.
DELMIA Robotics has already helped many companies worldwide successfully implement changes to their robotic operations that yielded significant improvements in manufacturing output. Additionally, we are committed to ensuring that our customers get the most value out of their DELMIA solution by providing community support to all users.
Discover the DELMIA Virtual Factory & Robotics Community—a space where you can interact with other users, ask questions, exchange tips and tricks, as well as gain information on new products and functionalities.
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