Development of an Experimental Environment to Study the Challenges in Cyber-Physical Intralogistics Systems

Abstract

The trend towards heterogeneous, decentral systems in intralogistics results in the need for a concept to describe and virtualize assets to enable their interaction. The multi-layer concept of Cyber-Physical Intralogistics Systems (CPIS) is introduced. The system description (descriptive layer) defines the structure of the digital twins and the communication (virtual layer) of physical (robots, periphery) and logical assets (control systems, simulations). To implement this concept, an experimental environment was developed at the Institute for Material Handling and Logistics and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. It consists of physical components, such as models of mobile robots or manipulators, and further periphery, such as racks and charging stations. The environment is supplemented by simulations and control software. Use cases for CPIS are to be implemented and tested in this environment. Due to the easily accessible hardware components and the possible scaling of the systems in the simulation, implementation cycles can be reduced, and results can be achieved quickly without requiring a real-world intralogistics system. CPIS can be used to initialize an automated charging process or to exchange perceived position data of system participants. The primary goal is to enable a modular system, add new participants through plug-and-play, and make systems easily changeable.