Collaborative Robot Marketplace Adds Monitoring Software

OnRobot, the purveyor of collaborative robot application-focused hardware, has launched WebLytics software, which it describes as a production monitoring, device diagnostics, and data analytics program that’s capable of monitoring the performance of multiple collaborative applications simultaneously and in real-time.

OnRobot says WebLytics gathers equipment data from both robots and tools to provide real-time application-focused feedback for collaborative applications across major robot brands. WebLytics is OnRobot’s first software product.

For end users and integrators, OnRobot says WebLytics eliminates manual data collection and provides actionable insights into how well a collaborative application is performing, offering live device diagnostics, alerts and preventive maintenance measures.

Utilizing the OEE industry standard, WebLytics identifies robot cell trends in real time, including patterns, peaks and disturbances in application productivity. OEE measures the percentage of manufacturing time that is truly productive. In that way, WebLytics can determine whether the manufacturing process is running at optimal speed and can monitor and analyze the quality of application cycles.

WebLytics can also report on robot-arm utilization, as well as grippers, vision cameras, and sensors, including tracking the number of safety stops initiated and grip cycles performed while an application is running. If changes are made to a robot cell, such as adjusting the robot’s speed or the gripper’s settings, WebLytics can also automatically report on the impact of those changes on application performance.

If any anomalies occur in the collaborative application after deployment, WebLytics enables users to analyze the data collected directly from the robots and tools and report its findings using customizable dashboards.

Compatible with all leading cobots and lightweight industrial robot arms, OnRobot says WebLytics can easily expand as new robots and tools become available. A secure, intuitive browser-based user interface provides access to WebLytics, which displays the OEE measures and user-defined KPIs through customizable dashboards.

The WebLytics server can be deployed on a shop floor’s local network or added to a virtual network that connects to the robot cell. Collected data are stored locally on the WebLytics server. Meanwhile, WebLytics’ built-in web server is always accessible from the shop floor network or from anywhere in the world via secure HTTPS connection.