Extending diagnostics to PLCs will cut automation cell downtime
22 August 2024 
Photo: Business Wire
Olis Robotics, the US developer of diagnostics systems for industrial cells, has extended its capabilities to include PLC monitoring, creating what it describes as “the world’s most comprehensive remote diagnostics solution for industrial automation cells”.
The development will allow the remote monitoring, diagnostics and debugging of complete industrial cells. It will also allow integrators to debug their systems before shipping, and to monitor their systems once they have been deployed.
Olis’ video and telemetry-based technology can diagnose the root causes of downtime, such as robot failures. The data allows robot cells to be debugged quickly and remotely, cutting downtime.
“The PLC often contains important diagnostic data required to understand the causes of unplanned downtime,” explains Olis’ CEO, Fredrik Ryden. The new PLC capabilities “enable real-time access to that data, effectively closing the loop on video-based diagnostics for industrial automation systems.”
The new capabilities cover entire industrial cells from PLCs to robot grippers, including conveyors and other hardware. Users can monitor and set alerts for pre-defined runtime parameters via a PLC, including I/Os, registers and the custom tags that PLCs use to measure OEE (overall equipment effectiveness), monitor cycle times and detect faults.
For end-users, this will mean lower downtime costs for entire cells, according to Olis. The new functions can also help to maintain and improve production throughput. For example, in an application where a robot inserts bolts into a part, an alert could tell operators to refill when the feeder with bolts, when it is running low.
The expanded Olis technology will make its public debut at the IMTS 2024 exhibition in Chicago in September, where visitors to Universal Robots’ strand will be able to access a machine-tending cell in Seattle remotely via an application running on a tablet PC.
At present, Olis’ capabilities are limited to Allen Bradley PLCs from Rockwell Automation, and to robot arms from Universal Robots, Kawasaki and Fanuc. Olis says that other makes of PLC and robot will be supported “in the near future”.
“Sometimes, when a failure occurs, the robots may not even know that there’s a problem,” points out Olis sales engineer, Bill Ordakowski. He reports that early testers of the new PLC functions have said they will be “unstoppable” with the new technology. “It’s not just the radically reduced downtime that they appreciate, but the extra breadth and control PLC access brings to remote monitoring and diagnostics.”
For example, one early adopter is the Michigan-based integrator, Mission Design & Automation. Its controls engineering manager, Steve Solack, says that “diagnosing the cause of failure in modern automation cells is notoriously difficult and requires considerable expertise. This is due to the complexity and variety of components involved. With the most crucial diagnostic information often being found in PLC tags and robot data, being able to quickly access such data via Olis’ easy to use interface reduces the time and skill set required to understand the problem, making us more efficient and reducing downtime costs for our customers.”
Another early adopter is the Idaho integrator, Kaitech Automation. Kilen Multop, the company’s IT director, plans to use the technology is robot cells for a variety of customers, including a warehouse club retailer, in the coming years. “To support this rapid growth, we need to ensure that robots are deployed quickly and without problems,” he says. “We will also need to track cell performance for many years to come. Olis enables Kaitech to scale with added confidence by helping with these key elements of automation deployment and management.”
Olis Robotics was founded in 2013 as a spinout from the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab. Its technologies are based on more than a decade of telerobotics R&D conducted in collaboration with Nasa and the US Navy. It has offices and laboratories in Seattle.
Olis Robotics: LinkedIn
