TalkRoBots: A Middleware for Robotic Systems in Industry 4.0

Abstract

This paper proposes a middleware called TalkRoBots that handles interoperability issues, which could be encountered in Industry 4.0. The latter proposes a unified communication approach facilitating the collaboration between heterogeneous equipment without needing to change neither the already used software nor the existing hardware. It allows heterogeneous robots, using both open and proprietary robotic frameworks (i.e., ROS, ABB, Universal Robots, etc.), to communicate and to share information in a transparent manner. It allows robots and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices to communicate together. Furthermore, a resilience mechanism based on an Artificial Intelligence (AI) approach was designed in order to allow automatically replacing a defective robot with an optimal alternatively available robot. Finally, a remote interface, which could be run through the Cloud, allows users to manipulate fleets of robots from anywhere and to obtain access to sensors’ data. A practical scenario using five different robots has been realized to demonstrate the different possibilities. This demonstrates the cost effectiveness of our middleware in terms of its impacts on the communication network. Finally, a simulation study that evaluates the scalability of our middleware clearly shows that TalkRoBots can be used efficiently in industrial scenarios involving a huge number of heterogeneous robots and IIoT devices.