AMT Comments on successful test/demonstration of MTConnect.
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Press Release Summary:
MTConnect®, open-source standard for collecting and communicating real-time information from manufacturing processes and factory floor equipment, has been successfully demonstrated and tested by manufacturing researchers at NIST. AMT President Douglas Woods called this "a giant step forward in resolving manufacturing interoperability issues." Woods also stressed imperative nature of seamless communications amongst disparate pieces of manufacturing technology equipment and devices.
Original Press Release:
MTConnect® Successfully Demonstrated and Tested by National Institute of Standards and Technology
McLean, Va. – MTConnect®, the open-source standard for collecting and communicating real-time information from manufacturing processes and factory floor equipment from a variety of vendors, has been successfully demonstrated and tested by manufacturing researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
In the recent test at NIST, the software innovation enabled a robot conversant in ROS-Industrial to load and unload parts into an MTConnect-conversant lathe for cutting, precisely when the machine tool was ready to perform the task. Without MTConnect, such a synchronized interaction would have required many hours—even days—of reprogramming to occur. Using ROS Industrial and MTConnect as a bridge, coordination between machine tool and lathe was accomplished in a few hours.
Douglas Woods, President of AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology who sponsors MTConnect said, “This is a giant step forward in resolving manufacturing interoperability issues. To witness existing standards like MTConnect and ROS being leveraged in a collaborative effort by NIST, National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), AMT and industry leading technology companies is exciting. Seamless communications among disparate pieces of manufacturing technology equipment and devices is imperative to data access which ultimately drives analytics and opens the door for productivity enhancements.”
“The goal of this project and follow-up efforts is to make it as easy as possible to integrate factory robots and machine tools and also to reconfigure them in response to changes in orders or customer requirements,” explains Fred Proctor, leader of NIST’s Smart Manufacturing and Construction Control Systems Program. “The communications logjam between robots and machine tools made by different vendors might be surprising to users of everyday electronics and communication equipment. Thanks to widely used standards, smart phones, computers, printers, and a variety of other products have almost effortless “plug and play interoperability.” This is not the case for equipment used in manufacturing operations, where operating systems and specifications for communication often are proprietary. The ‘meet-me-in-the-middle approach’ for MTConnect and ROS-Industrial appears to be a practical solution to the proprietary-systems hurdle.”
ROS-Industrial sprouted from an open-source robot operating system (ROS) originally developed by a group of researchers at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. The grassroots ROS standard simplified the task of linking assorted experimental research robots as well as add-on equipment such as sensors or grippers. A consortium organized by the Southwest Research Institute is now extending ROS to industrial robots and hardening it for manufacturing uses.
NIST funded the development effort at NCDMM, a nonprofit organization that develops and transitions improvements in manufacturing technology to DOD and its suppliers. The NCDMM team consisted of researchers from System Insights, Southwest Research Institute, and AMT. NIST and its collaborators are now exploring options for testing the generic bridge in a real factory.
AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology
AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology represents and promotes U.S.-based manufacturing technology and its members—those who design, build, sell, and service the continuously evolving technology that lies at the heart of manufacturing. Founded in 1902 and based in Virginia, the association specializes in providing targeted business assistance, extensive global support, and business intelligence systems and analysis. AMT is the voice that communicates the importance of policies and programs that encourage research and innovation, and the development of educational initiatives to create tomorrow’s Smartforce. AMT owns and manages IMTS — The International Manufacturing Technology Show, which is the premier manufacturing technology event in North America. www.AMTonline.org
MTConnect® Institute
MTConnect® Institute is an organization that develops and provides open standards intended to foster greater interoperability between manufacturing controls, devices and software applications by publishing data over networks using the Internet Protocol (IP). The standards offer a solution to the exchange of data from shop floor devices to higher-level systems. MTConnect.org is the location for information on MTConnect the standard, educational articles, training and MTConnect enabled products. MTConnectForum.com is the site for questions and answers on all things MTConnect. MTConnect is sponsored by The Association For Manufacturing Technology.
