Using the digital twin, ASTRI engineers have significantly reduced the amount of time needed to validate software performance on the physical twin. In addition, MBSE enables the team to solicit and validate customer requirements earlier in the development life cycle and allows greater agility in handling future design changes. ASTRI estimates that the twin approach has reduced integration time by 40% and cut the total cost of development by 30%.
Using this new methodology, ASTRI co-created robotic equipment called the collaborative mobile manipulator (CMM) with one of its customers. The CMM is designed to operate autonomously in a clean-room environment without any human intervention. The CMM is equipped with depth sensors, a vision system and a manipulator that allows for conducing navigation in the environment and performing pick-and-place tasks.
Since its successful development, the CMM has been running 24x7, doing work that previously required five operators in each work shift. ASTRI and its customer co-received the prize for Equipment and Machinery Design at the prestigious Hong Kong Awards for Industries (HKAI) in 2018 for the CMM.
ASTRI anticipates that demand for smart industry equipment such as the CMM will continue to increase. “The demand was high before, but it’s extremely high after COVID-19,” says Koo. “COVID has created every kind of disruption. And there’s an increased demand for all kinds of products, such as medical devices. There are numerous reasons why manufacturing facilities would need to run 24 hours a day, so automation and robotics will be increasingly in demand.”
After receiving training from IBM on the Engineering Rhapsody software, ASTRI engineers are positioned to continue helping ASTRI customers shorten development time, while ensuring the quality and reliability of the systems they are developing.