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Major Breakthrough | The National Key R&D Program’s “Industrial Robot Middleware” Has Passed Testing

2022-04-01

Recently, the national key R&D program—“Research and Development of Key Middleware Technologies and Application Platforms for Industrial Robots”—has successfully passed the rigorous testing conducted by the Kaiyun Lianchuang (Beijing) Testing Center, marking a breakthrough in China’s “middleware” technology in the robotics field. The project is led by Jiangsu Jierui Technology Group Co., Ltd. Shanghai STEP Robot Co., Ltd. Completed in collaboration with Hunan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University, the 716th Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, Yunnan KunChuan Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., and Lianyungang Jerry DeepSoft Technology Co., Ltd.

Most existing robotic control systems adopt closed, isolated information silos. How to leverage industrial robotics middleware technology to integrate distributed, heterogeneous resources, reduce system coupling, and enhance the openness and intelligence of control systems is a critical bottleneck that urgently needs to be addressed for the development of the industrial robotics industry.

To address the aforementioned challenges, “middleware” technology has emerged. Its purpose is to develop an industrial robot middleware and its associated application platform based on a service-oriented architecture, enabling transparent interaction and distributed collaboration within robotic cyber-physical systems. By leveraging middleware technology, heterogeneous robots from multiple brands and different systems can achieve seamless collaboration across platforms and systems in design, development, debugging, and deployment, significantly reducing the time required for initial production line integration and deployment in industrial settings.

Meanwhile, the “middleware” technology framework boasts a robust component ecosystem that standardizes interfaces for various components and provides commonly used algorithmic modules for industrial settings—such as visual processing, trajectory planning, and protocol conversion—facilitating seamless integration and utilization by underlying hardware manufacturers. Furthermore, based on a bus-based design concept, the framework enables real-time, transparent data exchange and monitoring throughout the robot manufacturing process. It also supports code-free orchestration of robotic functions, significantly reducing the programming effort required by developers during production-line deployment and rapidly enhancing the intelligence level and manufacturing efficiency of production lines.

Middleware Framework for Distributed Control Systems of Industrial Robots Based on Service-Oriented Architecture

Based on this “middleware” platform, Shanghai Neway Robot Co., Ltd. has jointly deployed visual assembly workstations and stamping production lines with Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Zhejiang University, achieving rapid, flexible, and low-code integration of production lines, thereby significantly enhancing customers’ levels of intelligentization and production efficiency. Moreover, “middleware” technology has already been put into use in production lines at enterprises such as Jerry and KunChuan, covering areas including ship welding, wall-climbing spraying, and intelligent AGV parking. It is foreseeable that in the near future, “middleware” technology will play a pivotal role in propelling China’s manufacturing sector toward a transformative leap from “Made in China” to “Smartly Made in China.”