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FlexxCORE has been updated for longer unattended production, increased capacity, and improved product quality. | Source: Flexxbotics
Flexxbotics has introduced an update to FlexxCORE, its innovative, patent-pending technology that underpins the Flexxbotics system. This new version boosts capabilities in areas like machine tending, quality assurance, and robotic production.
According to Flexxbotics, FlexxCORE now allows both industrial and collaborative robots to manage multiple machines simultaneously across various operations and part SKUs. This advancement is intended to help manufacturers scale their robotic production in a standard manner, enhancing plant efficiency, product quality, and EBITDA margins.
“FlexxCORE’s newly designed RESTful application programming interface (API) features an expanded data model that can dynamically define the production robotic environment,” said Tyler Modelski, co-founder and chief technology officer of Flexxbotics. “This capability allows robots to not only comprehend the specifications and operational status of each machine but also to instruct the machines on workflow execution and to troubleshoot any issues that arise.”
Flexxbotics emphasized that its system facilitates seamless communication between robots and other production equipment. The firm, based in Boston, has noted that its solutions can integrate closely with existing business systems in production environments, including CAD/PLM, QMS, and industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), thereby ensuring compliance in quality management.
Enhancements to FlexxCORE Boost Interoperability
Flexxbotics describes FlexxCORE as a low-code framework that enables users to construct and operate Transformers—robust translation connectors. The platform is designed with a secure and efficient runtime framework that includes data pipelines, protocols, class structures, method sets, and data models that support development.
These Transformers facilitate bidirectional read/write capabilities between robots and a variety of machinery, promoting broad interoperability. The FlexxCORE system claims compatibility with over 1,000 different makes and models of robots, factory equipment, and inspection tools, enabling connector creation that is 22 times faster than traditional integration methods, as stated by the company.
FlexxCORE also incorporates features that enhance system coordination. Robots equipped with the system gain improved awareness capabilities, allowing them to interpret machine tasks, processing routines, and operational conditions more effectively.
In addition, the system employs parallelized data pipelines that utilize asynchronous architectures for optimized real-time “robot+multi-machine orchestration,” according to Flexxbotics. Enhanced data granularity provides a broader data model and captures event data, which is crucial for understanding robotic operational contexts, recognizing patterns, and enabling machine learning.
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Flexxbotics Aims to Empower Scalable Solutions for Manufacturers
Flexxbotics has indicated that scaling advanced robotic machine tending in smart factories has traditionally been fraught with the challenges of extensive custom programming and associated risks. “Many initiatives fail because robots struggle with limited connections to plant equipment and business systems, often due to complex interfacing and incompatibilities,” the company noted.
The previous generation of robotic implementations frequently suffered from a lack of process integration, making them challenging and expensive to maintain, thus unsuited for the anticipated AI-driven workflows in modern manufacturing environments. The updated FlexxCORE is designed to enable global manufacturers to deploy automation solutions uniformly and effectively for advanced machine tending. Key features supporting smart factory operations include:
Robot+multi-machine orchestration: Allows robots to oversee several machines at once, promoting extended periods of unattended robotic production suitable for “lights out” manufacturing.
Robotic processing of multiple parts: FlexxCORE can coordinate the production of various part types or SKUs within a given family while managing complex multi-step processes.
Robot multi-job work order staging: Facilitates work order changeovers by detecting task completion and automatically updating part specifications for subsequent orders.
Autonomous process control: The system enhances quality and enables digital thread traceability by adjusting offset parameters in real time directly within the machine controller’s G-code.
Future-ready agility: Flexxbotics asserts that FlexxCORE positions companies to flexibly integrate new advancements, such as AI, facilitating swift adaptations to market fluctuations and evolving conditions.
“The landscape of manufacturing is evolving rapidly. This is why Flexxbotics has committed significant resources to innovate and facilitate digitalization in production robotics at scale,” commented Tyler Bouchard, co-founder and CEO of Flexxbotics. “With this latest FlexxCORE release, we continue to enhance our technological leadership, providing manufacturers with the tools necessary for robot-driven production that yields tangible results.”
Source
www.therobotreport.com