Expertise

Whether in relation to components, machinery or complete production processes, these days digital twins play an important role in product lifecycles. As digital replicas of products or processes, they depict their properties, status and behavior and hence connect the real world with a virtual one. As such, they ensure reliable processes throughout the development stage, commissioning and operations and can be used for optimization purposes and to improve quality and increase efficiency. The potential that digital twins possess can also be leveraged for ctrlX AUTOMATION.

In the manufacturing industry and other segments, digitalization and, as a result, automation are advancing rapidly. While automation has been standard in industries such as mechanical engineering for many years and control technology is traditionally used here, electrical automation solutions are also finding their way into newer industries such as the energy sector.

Additive manufacturing (AM) with its traditional area of application, prototype and tool making, is currently on the threshold of mass production. Innovative automation solutions are needed to make this leap, as deficits in process stability, for example, make the use of AM machines in series production unprofitable. With high-performance and highly connective automation solutions, these machines will become sufficiently fast, intelligent and process-reliable for series production.

Printing machines nowadays need to be versatile. Increasing individuality and packaging printing jobs with small print runs require quick changeover times and format changes if they are to be carried out profitably. At the same time, high precision and productivity must be guaranteed. On top of this, there is the increasing need for connectivity. Data need to be shared with other machine modules and higher-level systems.

Solving the increasing challenges in automation – as simply and individually as possible. This goal is not reached by individual products existing side by side, but by complete solutions. This is what Bosch Rexroth stands for with ctrlX AUTOMATION. In keeping with the openness and flexibility of the automation platform, components from previous and new product lines can be combined with each other. This creates optimal solutions and existing users can migrate to ctrlX AUTOMATION as needed.

A push towards automation is expected this year in the manufacturing industry and other segments – also driven by the coronavirus pandemic. The demand for open, easy-to-use and flexible automation solutions will increase independently of this. Common software development tools and programming languages are being used more and more and engineering processes are increasingly completely digital.

Daniel Developer (28) is much more than just a developer. He is an early adopter, cosmopolitan, technically savvy … speaks several languages, is open-minded and wants to go high. Daniel no longer only feels at home in the world of conventional automation (PLC), but also programs individual solutions using scripts, high-level languages and various environments to quickly reach his goals. He has to get applications up and running quickly, develop reliable software under high time pressure and present complex processes to the user in a simple way. No easy challenge. Until he discovered ctrlX AUTOMATION ...

What do safety functions in automation have in common with airbags? The reaction time. Airbags trigger within just under 50 milliseconds – at a speed of 200 km/h, this is too slow because the car will cover a number of meters in this time. Drivers should therefore drive much more slowly. When it comes to the reaction times of safety functions in automation, the situation is usually similar.

The road from the first PCs without a hard drive to today’s connected, mobile device platforms was a long one. The performance of central components such as processors and RAM had to be improved significantly and they had to be made more and more compact and energy-efficient. At the same time, the software became decoupled from the hardware and users could suddenly use a full range of new functions.

Would you tell me about the good old days once again? To check on your bank account, you had to go down to the nearest branch and then print out your statement all by yourself. Really? Today, we simply log onto our account online and check our balances with our cell phones – and we can make changes if we want to. The idea behind the ctrlX Device Portal looks much the same way.

It is quite common for a customer to request another Cartesian handling system at short notice for the machine that they have ordered which is already at the assembly stage. The additional request means extra business which is great but the electrical design engineer wonders where they’re going to find the necessary space in the control cabinet which has already been fitted out.

Let’s be honest: Over many years, automation has for the most part ignored the developments in the consumer area – and thereby missed countless opportunities for user-friendly approaches. With ctrlX AUTOMATION we have asked ourselves the provocative question: What would automation look like if it were reinvented by Google, Apple or another digital company?

Try it yourself: install an app with a camera function on your smartphone, whether it be a QR reader, photo TAN software, Messenger or travel cost billing software. The installation takes just a few minutes. Now think about how much work is involved if you want to integrate a camera function into a PLC program for an automation system, program the interface and forward the data in a legible form.

You don’t have to be a software engineer to understand the complexity of integrating functions. You only need to reach for your smartphone to conduct a simple test by installing an app with a camera function such as QR reader, photo TAN software or Messenger. It takes a matter of minutes.