Towards realistic simulation of robotic workcells

In this paper a new approach to realistic simulation of robotic workcells in industrial manufacturing processes is presented, in which the workcell is composed of different classes of objects like robots, AGVs, conveyor-belts and sensors. The presented simulation system is directed to the areas of offline-programming and workcell layout. The novel approach described includes the embedding of an industrial robot controller into the simulation system by means of a versatile message-based interface and the use of a sophisticated environment model for intuitive simulation of grip and release operations, conveyor-belts and sensors. This is combined with a graphical 3D-visualization of the workcell in real-time and a windows-oriented interface based upon widely spread GUIs on PCs and UNIX-workstations