Trends in Automation. An overview of where we are now and what awaits us tomorrow.

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1 White Paper Trends in Automation. An overview of where we are now and what awaits us tomorrow. Automation has become less of a mystery within our society as we find more and more automated products in our daily lives. With this growing interest and desire for technology that makes our lives easier, more automated, what are the future trends? Hollywood science fiction has helped to make the concepts of microsystems and artificial intelligence household concepts, some of which are not that far-fetched and become more probable every day. Consideration of the opinions and expertise of the today s technology leaders shows us what lies ahead, tomorrow and further into the future. It is a most exciting time for Automation as this White Paper will show. Topics covered in this discourse include: Microsystems: Small powerful systems that run our world Artificial Intelligence: A growing world of intelligent objects Industry 4.0: Cyber physical production systems Bionic Learning Network: New inspiration for automation from nature 1

2 Trends in Automation: an overview Wikipedia defines Automation as: Automation is the use of machines, control systems and information technologies to optimize productivity in the production of goods and delivery of services. The correct incentive for applying automation is to increase productivity, and/or quality beyond that possible with current human labor levels so as to realize economies of scale, and/or realize predictable quality levels. 1 Interestingly enough, the term automation, inspired by the earlier word automatic (coming from automaton), was not widely used before 1947, when General Motors established the automation department. At that time automation technologies were electrical, mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic. However, Automation has exploded since then and basic technologies described are part of a much more diverse and dynamic basket: DCS - Distributed Control System HMI - Human Machine Interface SCADA - Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition PLC - Programmable Logic Controller PAC - Programmable automation controller Instrumentation Motion control Robotics Mechatronics Artificial Intelligence These are all terms that we have become familiar with in today s industrial environment and I daresay, even in our domestic world. Automation is affecting everything we do and is no longer limited to factory floors. Take a look around youeverything that we interact with has varying degrees of automation. So, where to from here? What are trends in automation and what does the future hold? 2

Microsystems We may not be aware of it, but our professional and daily lives are increasingly being controlled by microsystems. These small technological marvels do big things for us.

They go quietly about their work as an intelligent combination of sensors, processors and actuators in airbags or in the form of an intelligent gripper with miniature camera in automation.

Microsystems engineering is thus an expanding sector of the economy, with experts predicting double digit growth to continue.

3 Microsystems We may not be aware of it, but our professional and daily lives are increasingly being controlled by microsystems. These small technological marvels do big things for us. They see, hear, make decisions and initiate the right processes. They go quietly about their work as an intelligent combination of sensors, processors and actuators in airbags or in the form of an intelligent gripper with miniature camera in automation. We even use them in our pets as a means to identify them when they wander away from home. Microsystems engineering is thus an expanding sector of the economy, with experts predicting double digit growth to continue. Microsystems engineering is providing a new impetus in mechanical and plant engineering, the electrical industry, automotive engineering, information and communications technology, biotechnology and medical technology. Microsystems engineering combines sensors, actuators and processors to create intelligent complete systems in the smallest of spaces. As an example, an intelligent gripper (gripper with an imbedded microsystem) is no longer subordinate to a PLC. It can function independently without the need for an additional computer to identify parts, distinguish them by size, design and quality, grip them and forward them to different users depending on the process type. In addition to a lower weight and reduced energy requirements, an intelligent microsystems engineering gripper offers faster response times thanks to shorter information channels. Mini is the next big thing. As far as Dr. Volker Nestle, Head of Research Microsystems at Festo, is concerned, the future clearly belongs to microsystems engineering and to micropneumatics in many areas of automation. He believes that micropneumatics and microsystems engineering, because of their innovation potential, will also make a significant impact in automation in the future. 2 3

Artificial Intelligence In our homes, in our workplaces and in industrial manufacturing, inanimate objects around us are becoming increasingly intelligent.

But does intelligence on the outside always mean intelligence on the inside? Just a few short years ago, a car was a car and a mobile phone was a device for making calls while on the move.

4 Artificial Intelligence In our homes, in our workplaces and in industrial manufacturing, inanimate objects around us are becoming increasingly intelligent. Many experts believe that intelligent machines are going to be the next big thing in science and technology. Today s prototypes are laying the foundations for the production of the future. But does intelligence on the outside always mean intelligence on the inside? Just a few short years ago, a car was a car and a mobile phone was a device for making calls while on the move. Today, a car is a highly complex means of transport that communicates with the driver and makes driving safer and more comfortable thanks to numerous assistance systems. Today s mobile phone is smart. It can navigate, provide information about restaurants and shopping in the local area in just a few seconds, and do all of this on the basis of learned behaviour patterns from its owner. So what more can we expect in the future? Experts are convinced that in the not-toodistant future, coats will be able to record the bodily functions of the people wearing them and alert the emergency services in the event of a problem, which will be particularly useful for elderly people, for example. The same applies to refrigerators which are already available with built-in computers but soon they will independently order milk and butter when needed. Or imagine a washing machine that will only wash at times when electricity is cheap. Industrial production is set to form complex networks over what is known as the Internet of Things, in which the raw material will communicate with the processing system and tell the system what to do with it. 3 4

5 Industry 4.0 Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang Wahlster, is one of the world s leading experts in Artificial Intelligence and he believes that Cyber Physical Production systems will revolutionise the manufacturing industry. In this new automation environment, the product or work piece will determine what services it requires from the plant. What he is proposing is not far from being a reality and there are currently examples of what he calls Industry The example he cites already exists in the Logistics environment. Blood Plasma bags have a specific temperature requirement i.e. their temperature cannot exceed a certain threshold. Technology exists that allows the blood plasma bags to monitor the ambient temperature of its surroundings during transport using a cyber-physical system installed in the packaging. When a defined set point is exceeded, the packaging triggers an alarm and alerts the refrigeration system of the truck in which it is being transported. The truck then reacts and lowers the temperature accordingly. Another example of this new technology is found in the inbin. It is the first real intelligent bin to have been developed in the world. inbin communicates with people and machines, makes decisions independently, monitors environmental conditions and controls logistics processes. The intelligent bin uses inverted light barriers to locate its position and integrated sensors to measure important environmental parameters such as air temperature. The inbin can therefore decide whether it is at the right location in a complex storage system with different climate zones. What makes the intelligent bin truly special is its ability not only to communicate with other inbins in order to optimise the logistics process, but also to establish contact with humans. This new architecture for production systems can be implemented gradually through the upgrading of existing production facilities, which means that these Cyber Physical Production systems can be rolled out into existing production facilities and is not only intended for new factories. 5

6 There are already signs that industry is moving from rigid central industrial control to decentralised intelligence. Vast numbers of sensors are recording their environment with incredible precision and are making their own decisions in embedded processor systems, independently of a central production control system. The only things missing right now are comprehensive wireless networking of the components, the permanent exchange of information, the merging of different sensor evaluations for the identification of complex events and critical states and their situation dependent interpretation, as well as further action planning based on these findings. In today s factories, huge volumes of data are being assimilated at many decentralized points. It goes without saying that humans cannot possibly process all this information at the same time. Machine intelligence of course can, and it would be more beneficial to the factory of the future if the machines communicated this information directly with one another. The advantage of this is that production processes could be made more efficient, flexible and cost effective. Prof. Dr. Wahlster is proposing distributing small, low cost wireless sensors throughout a production plant, allowing objects to register their environment and communicate wirelessly. Different types of sensors, such as opto-electrical, pressure, temperature and infrared, could work together to create an overall picture of the situation, sensing what is currently going on in their environment. 5 6

In the world of Industry 4.0, products and production facilities will become active system components, controlling their own production and logistics.

7 In the world of Industry 4.0, products and production facilities will become active system components, controlling their own production and logistics. They will contain cyber-physical systems that link cyberspace with the real physical world. However, they are different from current mechatronic systems as they have the ability to interact with their environment, plan and adapt their own behaviour to suit their environment and learn new behavioural patterns and strategies and thus be self optimising. This will cater for small production batches with rapid product changes and a large number of variants to be produced efficiently. Embedded sensor/actuator components, machine-to-machine communication and active semantic product memories are giving rise to new optimisation methods in order to conserve resources in industrial environments. This will facilitate environmentally friendly and sophisticated production at a reasonable cost in the future. The ability of machines to understand a given situation will also result in a whole new level of quality in industrial production. The interaction between large numbers of individual components will produce solutions that have never before been programmed in a production plant. In physics and biology we call this phenomenon emergence. A good example is an ant colony, in which the individual insect is not particularly intelligent, but when a large number of ants work together they can produce astonishing solutions from finding food to fending off predators; not to mention the impressive anthills which dot the African landscape. In essence, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This phenomenon is also found in Factory 4.0. If a component is damaged or if a part fails completely, the remaining operational components together develop a type of self healing process, which identifies the damage, estimates its extent, finds alternative solutions for the current production task and authorises corresponding maintenance or repair work. 7

8 The critical success factor for Industry 4.0 is an intelligent interpretation of the environmental information. The software therefore plays a key role. It should not only record the sensor information and relay it as a bit sequence, but it must also understand the content in context. To this end, the factory software of the future will also have a system of concepts that allows the function of system components, production tasks, states and events to be clearly described. Industry 4.0 thus facilitates high quality semantic communication, which can be understood not only by the people in the factory, but also by the factory machines. In order for this to work, we need standardised description languages and the Internet as a communication platform in the factory. The current chaos created by countless bus systems will be replaced by a single, worldwide standardised protocol: Internet Protocol on a realtime capable WLAN or Ethernet. In order for this concept to work, the individual machines would have miniaturised web servers which provide services and can communicate with the work pieces in the manufacturing process. In the changeable production environment of Industry 4.0, the un-machined part tells the system what it should make from, and with it. The system component must in turn communicate the services it offers to the product. The product then decides whether and in what form it wants to accept the service and saves it in its semantic product memory. As already mentioned, Industry 4.0, is an imminent reality. There is no Factory 4.0 in commercial operation yet, but research and industry partners are working hard to change that fact. At the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) in Kaiserslautern, south-west Germany, they have been operating the world s first smart factory as a living laboratory for a number of years. The first new factories that fully comply with the Industry 4.0 principle will go into production in five years time at the earliest. Things are moving faster in the area of conversion and upgrading of existing plants. Here, it can be assumed that the first plants will be operating according to some cyber physical production principles in two to three years time. In the words of Prof Wahlster At the end of the day, the main beneficiaries of Factory 4.0 will be humans. 4 8

Bionic Learning Network new inspiration automation from nature Gripping, moving, controlling and measuring nature performs all of these tasks instinctively, easily and efficiently.

9 Bionic Learning Network new inspiration automation from nature Gripping, moving, controlling and measuring nature performs all of these tasks instinctively, easily and efficiently. What could be more logical than to examine these natural phenomena and learn from them? This is exactly the purpose of the Bionic Learning Network - to take a look at Nature and see what we can learn from her and apply these principles to the field of automation and engineering. Festo develops, tests and improves mechatronic products, processes and technologies using bionics through the Bionic Learning Network. The Biomechatronic Footprint documents this evolution from a natural model to a basic technical principle, followed by bionic adaptation and ending with industrial application. The Bionic Learning Network is a research network linking the company to wellknown universities, institutes, development companies and private inventors. The members of the Bionic Learning Network represent many disciplines, backgrounds and industries. The core team consists of engineers and designers, biologists and 9

10 students from Festo, universities and other companies. It works closely with specialists from all over the world. This open, interdisciplinary teamwork offers new perspectives and inspiration for industrial applications and possible future standard products. Some of the current projects that illustrate the discussed trends in automation are: The AquaJelly, an artificial autonomous machine based on the jellyfish that operates within a water basin that is equipped with a number of charging stations where the unit can recharge as needed. It is powered by an electric drive unit and controlled by an intelligent adaptive mechanism that emulates swarming behaviour. The central hemispheric dome, or body of the jellyfish, houses a ring-shaped control board with pressure, light and radio sensors. These sensors in conjunction with a series of 8 white and 8 blue LED lights, allow communication between several AquaJellies up to a distance of about 80cm. Each jellyfish decides autonomously, based on the conditions it detects through the range of sensors, what action to take to avoid other AquaJellies and when to move towards a charging station within the basin. This movement is without pre-determined control, it relies on suitable choices based on simple rules of behaviour per AquaJelly and thereby creates the swarming effect similar to that of living jellyfish. 5 The ExoHand is an exoskeleton that can be worn by an operator like a glove, either over a human hand or an orthotic hand of silicone. The ExoHand is a solution for future human-machine cooperation in industrial environments based on soft robotics. It is designed to meet the challenge of an ageing population by functioning as an assistance system for assembly tasks in production. 10

The fingers can be actively moved and their strength amplified through eight doubleacting pneumatic actuators which are attached to the exoskeleton of the structure allowing the wearer to open and

The corresponding pressure in the chambers is regulated by piezo proportional valves whilst pressure sensors on the vale terminal regulate the pressure and give feedback on the force exerted by the

11 The fingers can be actively moved and their strength amplified through eight doubleacting pneumatic actuators which are attached to the exoskeleton of the structure allowing the wearer to open and close the fingers; registered and transmitted to the robotic hand in real time. Linear potentiometers register the position of the finger and force applied by each drive unit. The corresponding pressure in the chambers is regulated by piezo proportional valves whilst pressure sensors on the vale terminal regulate the pressure and give feedback on the force exerted by the cylinder. All this controlled by a CoDeSyscompliant controller. 6 The BionicOpter is an ultralight flying object inspired by the dragonfly. Just like its model in nature, the BionicOpter can fly in all directions and execute the most complicated flight manoeuvres. This unique way of flying is made possible by lightweight construction and the integration of functions: components such as sensors, actuators and mechanical components, together with open- and closedloop control systems, which are installed in a very tight space and matched accurately to one another. Despite the complexity of the system, it can be operated via a smartphone. Flapping frequency amplitude and installation angle are controlled by software and electronics, all the operator has to do is steer. A micro-controller calculates the parameters that can be mechanically adjusted using recorded flight data and a processor actuates the individual servomotors on each wing and those on each wing joint or root, to create movement. The BionicOpter has a wingspan of 63cm, a body length of 44cm and weights only 175grams. It is made from flexible 11

However, this gripper combines a range of new technologies ranging from manufacturing concepts to products, control technology and software.

12 polyamide and terpolymer for a sturdy yet flexible and light system. This is a clear example of a powerful microsystem and energy efficiency. 7 At first glance, the Bionic Handling Assistant appears to be no more than an innovative gripper arm based on the flexibility of an elephant s trunk. However, this gripper combines a range of new technologies ranging from manufacturing concepts to products, control technology and software. Manufactured through the process of Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), or 3D printing, the Bionic Handling Assistant is made from polyamide for maximum flexibility with low density while pneumatics give controlled rigidity when required. Proportional valves control the pressure in the 3 actuator chambers of the gripper arm which allows for precisely controlled use of compressed air and lower air consumption. Cable potentiometers on the outside of the actuator sections of the trunk, determine its extension and control the position of the system in space. The hand axis contains an additional 3 actuators around a ball joint which change the angle of the gripper by up to 30 degrees, giving the Bionic Handling Assistant eleven degrees of freedom. This means that the travel paths do not have to be linear, as opposed to conventional handling systems. An entirely new control algorithm was used to develop a kinetic model to calculate the exact position of the gripper and the system uses reverse transformation to determine the position in global coordinates. The adaptive gripper is also pneumatically driven and uses three fingers based on the Fin Ray Effect, another innovation developed by Leif Kniese from EvoLogics in Berlin, and derived from the movement of the fish s tail fin. It is the first Bionic Learning Network future concept to make the leap to production. Newer supplements to the system include image and voice recognition, allowing the gripper to autonomously 12

13 grasp objects without programming or manual control. This is done via a camera located within the gripper module and through a defined set of commands respectively. The brain of the Bionic Handling Assistant is a multi-axis controller equipped with functions for electric and pneumatic movement, measurement and control. The structural resilience of the system permits safe and direct contact between a person and the machine. This also creates new methods of interaction in the scope of human-machine cooperation. 8 Conclusion There is a definite trend in automation to move to more intelligent forms of control. The same trend has existed from the start and we have seen how the more traditional forms of automation like electric, hydraulic and pneumatic become more intelligent. However, the advancement of automation is now accelerating at a significant rate. Many experts agree that we are sitting on the cusp of a fourth industrial revolution and production technology as we know it will be revolutionised. These are exciting times and companies like Festo are at the forefront of pioneering the technology and innovation of the future. 13

14 References Trends in Automation, Issue 23. Festo. Dr. V Nestle; Small in size, big in ability. The future belongs to microsystems engineering: pg Trends in Automation, Issue 23. Festo. Dr. P Post; When Things start to Think: pg Trends in Automation, Issue 23. Festo. Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang Wahlster; (R)evolution 4.0: pg January 23, Berlin 4 Business; Screenshot 6. Learning Network: AquaJelly. Project Initiator Dr Wilfried Stoll. Festo AG & Co. KG 7. Learning Network: ExoHand. Project Initiator Dr Wilfried Stoll. Festo AG & Co. KG 8. Learning Network: BionicOpter. Project Initiator Dr Wilfried Stoll. Festo AG & Co. KG 9. Learning Network: Bionic Handling Assistant. Project Initiator Dr Wilfried Stoll. Festo AG & Co. KG 14

FreeMotionHandling Autonomously flying gripping sphere

FreeMotionHandling Autonomously flying gripping sphere FreeMotionHandling Flying assistant system for handling in the air 01 Both flying and gripping have a long tradition in the Festo Bionic Learning