The main bottleneck in adjusting and reconfiguring production plants is the coding of automation software. “De facto there are not enough coders at the market who permanently write code for a modularized plant model”, explains Professor Oliver Niggemann, Board at inIT. The solution from the researchers of the BMWI-Project “OPAK”: A software that largely automatically generates itself. The key words are: function-oriented engineering and modular, intelligent components.
With this concept users shall be supported on several ways: Modular, intelligent, mechatronic components facilitate the construction and mounting of production plants. Additionally, an algorithm automatically generates large parts of the control code. Solely mechatronic components and their abilities are needed. “Our solution increases on the one hand the adaptability of technical systems and on the other hand decreases the engineering effort. Therewith a new standard for control architecture and for engineering processes of production plants for industry can be set”, so Niggemann. Hitherto this was, if at all, just possible with severe restrictions.
About OPAK:
The project OPAK („Offene Engineering-Plattform für autonome, mechatronische Automatisierungskomponenten in funktionsorientierter Architektur“) was funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) for three years. It took place in the frame of the biggest Industry 4.0-research program of the Federal Government: “AUTONOMIK for Industry 4.0”. Project partners like inIT, ASYS, 3S, elrest, Festo, fortiss und InTraCom are all from different fields – like e.g. research, component manufacturers and system integrators. The whole supply chain could be covered. The research at inIT was funded with half a million Euros.