RODAT (RObot DATa)

The development of Industry 4.0 enables intelligent production processes in factories to be more agile, efficient and crisis-resistant. Different technologies are involved in this Industry 4.0 (IoT, Digital Twins, AI or Cloud Computing, for example) which, in order to be effective, require the acquisition, processing and use of a big volume of data. In this context, the advance of robotics and the knowledge and information processing capacity of robotic devices is key: capturing images, collecting information from a production process, sensors, trajectory data, historical data, etc.

The main objective RODAT is the collection and exploitation of data from robots in Industry 4.0 environments through connectivity solutions that allow standardization and interoperability of information, regardless of the type, model or manufacturer of the robot. As a result, the RODAT project will improve the computing processes in the Cloud Continuum (Edge, Fog and Cloud) through analysis both individually and jointly and aggregated with several plants, thanks to the generation of models with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data Solutions (BD).

The RODAT Project will address all the limitations of availability, exploitation and accessibility of robot data that currently do not allow easy integration and use in production environments. In addition, a cloud-based robot information management system will be developed to address the challenge of integrating robots as a service, covering optimal data processing for smart manufacturing scenarios, with the aim of providing the right information for the purpose right at the right time and to continually apply and improve ML/DL models.

 ROBOTNIK IN THE PROJECT

The main role of Robotnik is the definition of the RODAT reference architecture. This must allow the connection of robots to cloud services in a simple and as standard way as possible, supporting emerging protocols such as VDA5050. Robotnik also develops the Fleet Management solution for this architecture and contributes to the selection and integration of communication protocols and standards (OPC-UA, ROS/ROS2, etc) in the robot-cloud/edge communication and to the validation of the architecture complete in a demonstrator.

In addition, in the project’s industrial scenario, Robotnik Automation’s RB-THERON autonomous mobile robot (AMR) will be used to perform autonomous label transport operations in indoor environments. In order to efficiently carry out the logistics and inter-facility cooperation tasks required for the transfer of goods between specific points, the RB-THERON will be equipped with a lift to facilitate the mobilisation of a trolley for loading and unloading the labels. The mobile robot integrates a Teltonika RUTX11 4G router to enable data transmission to the RODAT cloud solution via the OPC UA communication protocol. This will enable data processing and subsequent improvement of task performance and maintenance and fault plans.

The RODAT project is funded by the Agencia Valenciana de Innovación de la Generalitat Valenciana with file INNEST/2022/215 and co-financed by the European Union.