Creating Digital Twins of Robotic Stations Using a Laser Tracker

Abstract

This article deals with the design and creation of digital twins of robotic stations. A literature review of digital twins, robot programming methods and laser tracker applications is presented. This paper shows that the construction of digital twins is closely related to one of the most popular methods of robot programming, i.e., off-line programming. In the case of digital twins of robotic stations, modeling accuracy and two-way communication with the real station proved to be crucial. The article proposes a methodology for solving the basic problem of off-line robot programming, i.e., the limited accuracy of the representation of the station and the details. The algorithm of proceeding in the case when the station already exists and its digital model is built and the case when the digital model is first created and the real solution is built on its basis is shown. According to the developed methodology, a digital twin of a real robotic station was created and the possibilities arising from the use of virtual tools were shown. The developed digital twin has the ability to communicate with advanced Matlab 2021-type tools, uses cloud solutions and virtual and augmented reality for training, simulates physical phenomena and provides the ability to accurately program robots off-line.