IPCs with Nvidia GPUs deliver 25-fold acceleration in shopfloor AI
13 November 2024 
At the SPS show in Germany, Siemens has launched a line of industrial PCs (IPCs) equipped with Nvidia GPUs designed to accelerate AI (artificial intelligence) applications up to 25 times. The integration of the Nvidia accelerated computing platform allows the IPCs to handle complex AI tasks such as robotics, quality inspection, predictive maintenance and operational optimisation. Siemens says it will help to drive down costs and accelerate time-to-market.
“Customers driving their digital transformation need high-performance industrial-grade systems,” explains Siemens Factory Automation CEO, Rainer Brehm. “Our new offerings accelerate the next-level AI-based applications. With Industrial Operations X, we’ve made the latest advances in industrial AI widely available to companies of all sizes.”
Rev Lebaredian, vice-president of Omniverse and simulation technology at Nvidia, adds that the new IPCs “will enable the world’s manufacturers to reach new heights of digitalisation and deliver incredible efficiencies and agility”.
Siemens and Nvidia say they are striving to make AI capabilities accessible to automation engineers without requiring extensive coding knowledge.
In addition to no-code tools to integrate, manage and execute industrial AI applications, Siemens’ Industrial Operations X portfolio offers a variety of out-of-the-box AI applications. For instance, Simatic Robot Pick AI, accelerated by Nvidia, allows OT users with no AI expertise to create AI-driven piece-picking robot applications for warehouses. And Siemens Industrial Copilot for Operations, powered by Nvidia’s NIM microservices, allows automation and maintenance engineers to make real-time queries about operational and document data to help rapid decision-making and reduce machine downtime.
The new Siemens IPCs can deploy applications built with Nvidia NIM microservices and edge AI frameworks, including Nvidia Isaac ROS, Holoscan, and Metropolis. The PCs are designed to withstand harsh industrial conditions, while maintaining a small footprint.
One of the new products is the low-power, fan-less Simatic BX-35A embedded IPC, based on Nvidia’s Jetson Orin NX systems-on-modules (SoMs), for high-performance AI computing. Other Nvidia-powered devices include the Simatic IPC RW-545A high-performance workstation, RS-828A high-performance server for production data centres, and BX-59A high-performance modular box PC.
The box PC allows users to deploy and run AI models in industrial environments with no coding expertise. Combining a newly-released AI Inference Server GPU accelerated with the Simatic BX-59A as an edge device, a 25-fold acceleration in shopfloor AI execution has been measured.
All Simatic IPCs can be ordered with Siemens’ Simatic industrial OS, a real-time Debian-based operating system that comes preinstalled with Nvidia AI software, enabling rapid deployment of industrial AI applications.
