Integrated virtual commissioning of a ROS2-based collaborative and intelligent automation system

In order to adapt to stricter system delivery and integration requirements, virtual commissioning (VC) has become a well adopted practice in industry. VC is getting increasingly integrated into the overall engineering process, where the control software is continuously tested with the virtual plant model. At the same time, collaborative and intelligent automation systems are becoming an important part of modern industries. In these complex systems, humans perform operations together with collaborative robots, intelligent machines and smart tools. However, performing VC of such complex, distributed and heterogeneous systems demands new ways of interfacing different hardware and software components. This paper discusses the requirements, process and results of integrated virtual commissioning of an industrial collaborative and intelligent automation system use-case. Moreover, this industrial use-case illustrates challenges and exemplifies the need to use the next generation Robot Operating System (ROS2) due to its robust communication layer as well as easy integration with smart devices and algorithms.