This illustration depicts many-tomany tasking where multiple robots can perform agile tasks through self-optimization.
different robots and mechanical devices to share information regardless of brand. In 2013, a NIST-backed MTConnect standard project bridged ROS to another open standard to enable smooth sharing of information across proprietary devices. This delivered on the promise of a lower-cost, more flexible means to enable richer interaction between devices on a shop floor. In 2017, a follow-on project was launched, again backed by NIST, that resulted in a “many-to-many” collaboration model. Practically, this dynamic process means all the devices on the floor understand what all the other devices are doing and can respond based on rules and established priorities. SwRI demonstrated this new implementation at the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago in 2018.
Multi-robot optimization strategies are based on many factors, including proximity to the proper end efffector to manipulate a specific payload.
Since then, a recently completed program has seen the framework improved further, this time extending to additional industrial communication standards, the Open Platform Communications Foundation’s Unified Architecture (OPC-UA) and the Object Management Group® Data Distribution Service (DDS™). Released in
DETAIL The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), now part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is one of the nation’s oldest physical science laboratories. Congress established the agency in 1901 to overcome challenges to U.S. industrial competitiveness, which lagged behind the capabilities of the United Kingdom, Germany and other economic rivals at that time.
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