ACbot: an IIoT platform for industrial robots

Abstract

As the application of Industrial Robots (IRs) scales and related participants increase, the demands for intelligent Operation and Maintenance (O&M) and multi-tenant collaboration rise. Traditional methods could no longer cover the requirements, while the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has been considered a promising solution. However, there’s a lack of IIoT platforms dedicated to IR O&M, including IR maintenance, process optimization, and knowledge sharing. In this context, this paper puts forward the multi-tenant-oriented ACbot platform, which attempts to provide the first holistic IIoT-based solution for O&M of IRs. Based on an information model designed for the IR field, ACbot has implemented an application architecture with resource and microservice management across the cloud and multiple edges. On this basis, we develop four vital applications including real-time monitoring, health management, process optimization, and knowledge graph. We have deployed the ACbot platform in real-world scenarios that contain various participants, types of IRs, and processes. To date, ACbot has been accessed by 10 organizations and managed 60 industrial robots, demonstrating that the platform fulfills our expectations. Furthermore, the application results also showcase its robustness, versatility, and adaptability for developing and hosting intelligent robot applications.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

IIoT platform / industrial robots / cloud-edge collaboration / intelligent applications

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