New technologies are making a true industrial revolution possible in factories around the world. Factories that are increasingly closer to what recently seemed like science fiction thanks to the combination of advances in sections that go from robotics to artificial intelligence or computer vision.
These are some of the fields that one of the latest projects he works on combines. the AIJU technology center, which is part of the Network of Technological Institutes of the Valencian Community (Redit). Despite the strong development and extension of robots in industrial chains, their use still has barriers, such as when it comes to manipulating flexible and deformable objects, which due to their own characteristics make them more difficult for their arms to handle and handle. automated.
A limitation that affects traditional industries that work with flexible materials, present in fabrics, foods and plastics in their daily production, which today has a solution thanks to a combination of different technologies. The project R4MIDpromoted by AIJU and financed by the Valencian Institute of Competitiveness and Innovation (IVACE+I) and the FEDER Funds, seeks to develop technologies for the manipulation of deformable objects, focusing especially on plastics which are a fundamental raw material for the toy sector to which the center of Alicante is historically linked.
By combining certain technologies such as artificial intelligence, artificial vision, force feedback and robotics, companies linked to plastics can face changes in their processes and greater automation to achieve more efficient production that is adaptable to market needs.
The R4MID project not only addresses the technical challenges of manipulating deformable objects, but also drives collaboration between companies, such as Industria Auxiliar Juema, Vicedo Martí, and The Doll Factory Europeto face the challenges of the industrial future.
Furthermore, the integration of robotic systems into industrial processes not only increases efficiency and optimizes production, but also reduces the physical burden on workers and reduces the risk of injury.
Human-robot interaction: Exoskeletons
Precisely the interaction between people and work equipment and machines is one of the fields that seeks to develop to achieve excellence in manufacturing and an improvement in the daily life of the workers themselves.
He Institute of Biomechanics (IBV) works at INNOWORKa project funded by IVACE+i that seeks to advance the development of innovative techniques based on artificial intelligence (AI) for the prevention of ergonomic risks and the use of exoskeletons; all of this, with the aim of improving working conditions and productivity in the new work environments of the so-called factories of the future.
The approach seeks not only to improve working conditions, but also to increase productivity in work environments through reduction of days off work caused by musculoskeletal disorders.
To do this, the IBV takes advantage of its experience after having been one of the pioneer centers in carrying out behavioral analysis of these devices in real production lines such as, for example, the study carried out at the Ford plant in Valencia. The center participated in the testing and adaptation of an upper limb exoskeleton for assembly line workers.
Now the IBV is developing an interactive tool that will allow companies to identify which jobs could benefit from the implementation of specific exoskeletonsas well as the guidelines for its correct selection and implementation. In addition, it tracks the feedback of those workers who have decided to use it.
Additionally, INNOWORK has focused on creating innovative techniques to assess ergonomic risk in the workplace, using AI-based technologies that provide accurate and objective information.
An investigation in which the IBV has the collaboration of leading companies, such as SPB, Panamar, Zummo, Traditional Dishes, Martínez or Grefusa Sausageswhich are committed to the design of new work environments driven by people and the use of technologies to protect the workforce.
5G and swarm manufacturing
One of the great technological revolutions has come from the hands of mobile networks and their ability to multiply range and bandwidth. Systems that allow the transformation of classic plant automation architectures towards more flexible, scalable and dynamic productions.
One of the proposals for this change is the use of non-linear scenarios, called swarm manufacturing or ‘swarm’ manufacturing. The concept swarm manufacturing It combines manufacturing and autonomous swarm robot technology to carry out production processes efficiently and flexibly. In this way, instead of depending on a single assembly or production line, several coordinated autonomous robots are used that work together in a decentralized manner and are capable of communicating and interacting with each other and their environment.
He Valencian technological center ITI, specialized in ICTseeks to advance the technological development of this concept with the 5GSWARM projectwhich currently has as its main objective the generation of an ultra-low latency wireless infrastructure designed for the industrial environment and requirements, which allows articulating all the connectivity, mobility and flexibility needs of the industry of the future.
During this second stage of work, ITI intends to advance in the conceptualization of the Swarm Manufacturing paradigm, within the framework of the factory of the future, through the construction of prototypes based on various technological components, the generation of demonstrators applied to different use cases and collaboration with companies such as Factor either Colortecthat validate, experiment and pose real challenges for their respective industries, in which this type of solutions and infrastructure represent a great advance for the connected and automated factory of the future.
ITI is working on the integration of a 5G architecture, adapted to demanding industrial requirements, in combination with the latest WiFi wireless standards to increase performance in different scenarios. In collaboration with Vodafone Spaindifferent public, private and hybrid 5G architecture approaches are being analyzed for industrial exploitation, providing different combinations of cost, performance, privacy and infrastructure maintenance.
In addition, Swarm Manufacturing combines autonomous robot technology to carry out production and logistics processes in a more efficient, flexible and collaborative way, centrally coordinating all the decisions of the different assets, and absorbing part of the computing and decisions both of the robots as well as the processes themselves in a MEC (Multi-access Edge Computing) server integrated into the communications infrastructure itself. This allows a very low reaction time, essential for production processes, and a transparent connection of all plant assets.
Thus, instead of depending on a single assembly or production line, several coordinated autonomous robots are used, which work together in a decentralized manner and are capable of communicating and interacting with each other. 5GSWARM2 seeks to demonstrate the potential of 5G to achieve an autonomous factory through two use cases.
The first of these involves mobile robotics, where an AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) connects to a robot arm through a 5G infrastructure. The low latency and high reliability of communications allow the hardware to be simplified and the cost of the final equipment to be reduced.
5G allows robust, fast and flexible connectivity of data from all the agents involved, significantly improving the efficiency and responsiveness of industrial processes, and enabling new ways of organizing and improving traditional industrial processes.
The second case has to do with the virtualization of automation processes. This approach takes advantage of the low latency, reliability, and wireless connectivity of 5G to separate the control process of an automation system from any factory. This facilitates more flexible, reconfigurable and adaptive production, supported by concepts such as Software Defined Automation and virtual PLC (vPLC).
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