Development update: The FELICE Digital Twin

CAL-TEK is working on Phase II of the FELICE system prototype where new parts and functionalities of the Digital Twin will be released. In particular, the Phase II prototype of the Digital Twin will include a Real-Time Virtual Simulation environment.

Real-Time Virtual Simulation is an approach to provide a more realistic testing environment for the Orchestrator managing the assembly workflow. The system checks the validity and the effects of the decisions taken to manage the assembly line. It provides a real-time simulation where, as much as possible, the physics of the entities and sensors are considered for the Human operators, for the robot (also using a ROS connection), and for the adaptive workstation. The platform for developing the Real-Time Virtual Simulation is Unity3D (for its real-time simulation capabilities and flexibility in terms of the programming environment). The simulation environment can be used manually by a human user to carry out real-time simulations and experimentations or automatically by the Orchestrator. A set of equations are defined and implemented to model the human operators’ efficiency while considering the operations being done, working time, and ergonomic penalties. The simulation also includes a real representation of the robot and its status.