Virtual teaching function to reduce 90 percent production equipment commissioning time for inspection processes.

April 18, 2022 – OMRON Corporation has announced the expansion of its “Sysmac Studio 3D Simulation" with the inclusion of the offline teaching functions. This is simulation software for "Robotics Integrated Controller" which integrates and controls robots and control devices like vision, servo and safety that make up production equipment.

In addition to a shortage of skilled engineers, manufacturing sites face the challenge of increasing the number and complexity of inspection items prior to shipment, which requires a lot of time. However, while automation at manufacturing sites is advancing, the automation of the inspection for complex products has been slow to progress because it often relies on the experience and visual inspection of skilled technicians. In addition, the equipment development system that relies on skilled engineers requires improvement because of the man-hours required to adjust the actual equipment.

The new expanded functionality in the Sysmac Studio 3D Simulation enables virtual teaching of the motion of a camera-mounted arm robot for product inspection. For example, the teaching of an automotive part with 20 to 30 inspection points can be completed in about one hour on a desk using the new function, whereas the conventional preparation work with the actual product or actual machine would have needed one day. In addition, virtual teaching enables remote pre-preparation on a laptop, even if the operator is forced to work remotely due to the Covid-19, so that on-site work is limited to fine-tuning, thereby reducing the workload of workers at manufacturing sites that are suffering from labour shortages. With CAD data, the inspection target can be virtually converted to 3D and taught while the product is still in the design phase. It also shortens the time required to start up production of new products.

OMRON strives to promote DX of diversified and complex manufacturing sites through the "Robotics Integrated Controller" and "Sysmac Studio 3D simulation" to address customers' challenges.

https://www.omron.com/global/en/media/2022/04/c0414.html