Among the challenges facing factories and warehouses as they adopt robots is the use of unique or proprietary operation systems, navigation systems, and fleet management software. An interoperability layer is emerging, with several software vendors, standards groups, and integrators taking on the challenge of getting equipment and systems to communicate. Real-Time Innovations today announced that 634AI Ltd. has selected RTI Connext DDS to connect its MAESTRO and autonomous mobile robots.
“The motivation for creating our MAESTRO system was helping our customers transform the way they fulfil everyday indoor tasks,” stated Onn Fenig, CEO of 634AI. “RTI Connext DDS helped us create a central control tower that can streamline the management and control of any mobile task on an industrial floor. MAESTRO’s top-view visibility enables customers to achieve safer, more controlled and more effective floor operation all through a single system, and at a fraction of the price of today’s solutions.”
634AI has developed MAESTRO as a fully integrated “central control tower” driven by a virtual real-time location system (vRTLS). It can streamline management of any mobile task on an industrial floor, airport terminal, or hospital ward, said the Neve Ilan, Israel-based MushashiAI spin-out. The modular system is designed to track and trace movements of goods and equipment, provide real-time safety alerts for forklifts and driven pallet jacks, or navigate and manage fleets of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs).
RTI Connext adds AI to AMR management
Real-Time Innovations (RTI) said RTI Connext shares data cirectly, connecting artificial intelligence algorithms to real-time networks of devices for the development of autonomous systems. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company claimed that it is the leading vendor of products compliant with the Object Management Group (OMG) Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard.
RTI added that Connext enables 634AI to streamline the management and control of AMR tasks on an industrial floor. The RTI Connext DDS software supports fast, reliable communication between the MAESTRO system and AMRs with near-zero latency for critical data, while providing foolproof, real-time connectivity over Wi-Fi networks, said the companies.
Connext allows 634AI to build out robust, scalable connectivity systems without wasting time, said RTI. With Connext as the underlying communication framework, 634AI is able to add new messaging and devices with no latency and minimal effort, said Real-Time Innovations. The software connectivity platform also gives 634AI a shared infrastructure to develop, deploy, and maintain fully interoperable robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) offerings, it said.
Real-time view to ease development
The data-centric nature of Connext gives MAESTRO users a real-time overview of the entire industrial floor, with continuous tracking and tracing of AMRs, including object identification and recording of movement and inventory. Indoor operations can also improve efficiency and productivity because the robots are now able to consistently avoid obstacles and humans through recognition and real-time path adjustments and alerts, said RTI.
With this optimized functionality, equipment and mobile robot manufacturers are freed from solving the complex challenges of autonomous mobility and can focus more heavily on product and technology innovation, the company said.
“634AI is achieving groundbreaking feats by developing a solution that not only reduces vendor costs, but [also] allows users a higher degree of productivity and innovation in a way that is truly unique in the robotics vehicle market,” said Bob Leigh, senior market development director at Real-Time Innovations. “Through this effort, RTI and 634AI are tackling the biggest challenges associated with widespread AMR adoption and demonstrating the importance of future-proof connectivity software.”
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