Posted to News on 13th Nov 2024, 15:00
Driving advanced manufacturing at scale with AI and digital twins
Rockwell Automation says it is integrating NVIDIA Omniverse application programming interfaces into its Emulate3D digital twin software to enhance factory operations through artificial intelligence and physics-based simulation technology.
Digital twins enhance equipment development and control testing through simulation models and emulation, reducing startup time and risk. As equipment is connected into lines, models scale and challenges arise from siloed expertise and integration issues between separately engineered components.
A system-level perspective, including interoperability across machines, can solve these issues, but requires collaboration for system-level testing. As lines scale, larger digital twins require more computational power, risking bottlenecks. Automation leaders need scalable solutions to achieve full factory-scale models, building on digital twin successes.
Rockwell Automation's Emulate3D software uses the latest NVIDIA Omniverse APIs to create factory-scale dynamic digital twins based on OpenUSD interoperability and NVIDIA RTX rendering technologies. While visualisation was previously possible, this enhancement enables true emulation and dynamic testing of multiple machines within a system. This integration, planned for early 2025, will enable improved visualisation and simulation capabilities for manufacturing environments.
"Our integration of Emulate3D with NVIDIA Omniverse marks a significant leap forward in bringing autonomous operations to life," said Blake Moret, Chairman and CEO of Rockwell Automation. "By combining our deep industrial expertise with NVIDIA's cutting-edge technology, we're helping our customers achieve new levels of efficiency, innovation, and collaboration in their manufacturing processes."
By using NVIDIA Omniverse, Emulate3D will allow multiple dynamic digital twins to be combined and visualised as a complete factory through a web app. This vendor-agnostic, scalable approach addresses the growing need for factory-scale digital twins created by engineers collaborating across various teams.
Rockwell Automation's expertise in industrial automation and Emulate3D's comprehensive modelling capabilities pair with the NVIDIA Omniverse platform to enable real-time collaboration at scale.
"AI-enabled digital twins are driving the next wave of digital manufacturing and automation," said Rev Lebaredian, Vice President of Omniverse and Simulation Technology at NVIDIA. "Rockwell Automation's Emulate3D software allows manufacturers to collaboratively visualise, simulate, and optimise their operations in real time with NVIDIA Omniverse."
