Virtual design environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11829121-B2
Application number	US-202217842871-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 17, 2022
Priority date	Sep 26, 2019
Publication date	Nov 28, 2023
Grant date	Nov 28, 2023

Abstract

An industrial integrated development environment (IDE) supports a virtual design environment that allows an automation system designer to perform project development via interaction with a virtual reality presentation of the plant facility. The industrial design environment can generate system project data for an automation project—including but not limited to device selections, industrial control programming, device configurations, visualizations, engineering drawings, etc. —based on the developer's manual interactions with the virtual reality presentation. These interactions can include, for example, placing and moving machines or other industrial assets within the virtualized environment, defining trajectories of motion devices or robots using manual gestures, or other such interactive input. The IDE system interprets the developer's interactions as design specifications for the automation system being designed and translates these interactions into control code, visualizations, device configurations, and other system aspects that satisfy the design specifications.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a memory that stores executable components; and
a processor, operatively coupled to the memory, that executes the executable components, the executable components comprising:
a virtual rendering component configured to render an interactive virtual reality (VR) representation of an industrial facility based on a digital model of the industrial facility;
a user interface component configured to receive interaction data representing manual interactions with the VR representation of the industrial facility, wherein the manual interactions are indicative of design input that defines aspects of an industrial automation system and comprise at least one of a manual interaction defining placement of an industrial asset at a specified location within the VR representation, a manual interaction defining a relocation of an industrial asset from a first location within the VR representation to a second location within the VR representation, a manual interaction defining replication of an industrial asset across multiple locations within the VR representation, a manual interaction defining a trajectory to be carried out by a motion device, or a manual interaction defining a path through which material is to be transferred;
a project generation component configured to translate the interaction data into executable system project data that satisfies the design input represented by the manual interactions, wherein the system project data comprises at least an executable industrial control program configured to perform control of the industrial automation system; and
a simulation component configured to perform simulated control of the industrial automation system by the industrial control program based on exchange of virtual I/O data between the industrial control program and the digital model.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the simulation component is further configured to determine whether the system project data satisfies the design input based on a result of the simulated control.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the digital model models physical appearances of industrial assets that make up the industrial automation system and behaviors of the industrial assets in response to control inputs from an industrial controller.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system project data further comprises at least one of an industrial visualization application configured to visualize at least a portion of the industrial automation system, industrial device configuration data configured to set a configuration parameter of an industrial device, an engineering drawing, a wiring schedule, or a bill of materials.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface component is configured to selectively switch the VR representation between a first-person view that simulates the wearer's presence within the industrial facility and an external view that renders a down-scaled model view of the industrial facility.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the project generation component is configured to, in response to a determination that the interaction data defines the placement of the industrial asset at the specified location within the VR representation, add an automation object representing the industrial asset to the system project data.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the automation object has associated therewith at least one of an input, an output, an analytic routine, an alarm, a security feature, or a graphical representation of the industrial asset.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein
the digital model models the industrial facility and an existing automation system within the industrial facility, and
the project generation component is further configured to, in response to a determination that at least a portion of the design input indicated by the manual interactions necessitates a design modification to the existing automation system, generate the system project data to reflect the design modification.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the design modification comprises at least one of a modification to a control program associated with the existing automation system, a rewiring of control signals or power lines associated with the existing automation system, or a retuning of a control loop associated with the existing automation system.

10. A method, comprising:
rendering, by an industrial integrated development environment (IDE) system comprising a processor, an interactive virtual reality (VR) presentation of an industrial area based on a digital model of an industrial facility;
receiving, by industrial IDE system, interaction data representing manual interactions with the VR presentation of the industrial area, wherein the manual interactions are indicative of design specifications for an industrial automation system and comprise at least one of a manual interaction defining placement of an industrial asset at a specified location within the VR presentation, a manual interaction defining a relocation of an industrial asset from a first location within the VR presentation to a second location within the VR presentation, a manual interaction defining replication of an industrial asset across multiple locations within the VR presentation, a manual interaction defining a trajectory to be carried out by a motion device, or a manual interaction defining a path through which material is to be transferred;
translating, by the industrial IDE system, the interaction data into executable system project data that satisfies the design specifications represented by the manual interactions, wherein the translating comprises translating the interaction data to at least an executable industrial control program configured to perform control of the industrial automation system; and
performing, by the industrial IDE system, simulated control of the industrial automation system by the industrial control program based on exchange of virtual I/O data between the industrial control program and the digital model.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the translating comprises, in response to a determination that the interaction data represents the manual interaction defining placement of the industrial asset within the VR presentation, adding an automation object representing the industrial asset to the system project data.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the performing of the simulated control comprises determining whether the system project data satisfies the design input based on a result of the simulated control.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the digital model models physical appearances of industrial assets that make up the industrial automation system and behaviors of the industrial assets in response to control inputs from an industrial controller.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the translating further comprises translating the interaction data to at least one of an industrial visualization application configured to visualize at least a portion of the industrial automation system, industrial device configuration data configured to set a configuration parameter of an industrial device, an engineering drawing, a wiring schedule, or a bill of materials.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the rendering comprises selectively rendering the VR presentation as either of a first-person view that simulates the wearer's presence within the industrial area and an external view that renders a down-scaled model view of the industrial area.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, in response to execution, cause a system compris

Assignees

• Rockwell Automation Tech Inc

Inventors

• Stump Andrew R
• Carrara Anthony
• Srinivasan Eashwer
• Como Christopher W
• Billi-Duran Sharon M

Classifications

• G05B19/4185 Primary

  characterised by the network communication · CPC title

• G02B27/017

  Head mounted · CPC title

• G05B15/02

  electric · CPC title

• G05B19/0426

  Programming the control sequence · CPC title

• G06F3/011

  Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality (blind teaching G09B21/00) · CPC title