Foxconn operates greater than 170 factories all over the world — the most recent one a digital plant pushing the state-of-the-art in industrial automation.
It’s the digital twin of a brand new manufacturing facility in Guadalajara, hub of Mexico’s electronics business. Foxconn’s engineers are defining processes and coaching robots on this digital setting, so the bodily plant can produce at excessive effectivity the subsequent engine of accelerated computing, NVIDIA Blackwell HGX programs.
To design an optimum meeting line, manufacturing facility engineers want to search out the most effective placement for dozens of robotic arms, every weighing tons of of kilos. To precisely monitor the general course of, they situate 1000’s of sensors, together with many networked video cameras in a matrix to indicate plant operators all the correct particulars.
Digital Factories Create Actual Financial savings
Such challenges are why firms like Foxconn are more and more creating digital factories for simulation and testing.
“Our digital twin will information us to new ranges of automation and industrial effectivity, saving time, price and vitality,” mentioned Younger Liu, chairman of the corporate that final 12 months had revenues of practically $200 billion.
Primarily based on its efforts thus far, the corporate anticipates that it will possibly enhance the manufacturing effectivity of advanced servers utilizing the simulated plant, resulting in vital price financial savings and decreasing kilowatt-hour utilization by over 30% yearly.
Foxconn Groups With NVIDIA, Siemens
Foxconn is constructing its digital twin with software program from the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio together with Teamcenter and NVIDIA Omniverse, a platform for creating 3D workflows and functions based mostly on OpenUSD.
NVIDIA and Siemens introduced in March that they may join Siemens Xcelerator functions to NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud API microservices. Foxconn shall be among the many first to make use of the mixed companies, so its digital twin is bodily correct and visually sensible.
Engineers will make use of Teamcenter with Omniverse APIs to design robotic work cells and meeting strains. Then they’ll use Omniverse to tug all of the 3D CAD components into one digital manufacturing facility the place their robots shall be educated with NVIDIA Isaac Sim.
Robots Attend a Digital College
A rising set of producers is constructing digital twins to streamline manufacturing facility processes. Foxconn is among the many first to take the subsequent step in automation — coaching their AI robots within the digital twin.
Contained in the Foxconn digital manufacturing facility, robotic arms from producers akin to Epson can learn to see, grasp and transfer objects with NVIDIA Isaac Manipulator, a set of NVIDIA-accelerated libraries and AI basis fashions for robotic arms.
For instance, the robotic arms might learn to decide up a Blackwell server and place it on an autonomous cellular robotic (AMR). The arms can use Isaac Manipulator’s cuMotion to search out inspection paths for merchandise, even when objects are positioned in the best way.
Foxconn’s AMRs, from Taiwan’s FARobot, will learn to see and navigate the manufacturing facility ground utilizing NVIDIA Perceptor, software program that helps them construct a real-time 3D map that signifies any obstacles. The robotic’s routes are generated and optimized by NVIDIA cuOpt, a world-record holding route optimization microservice.
In contrast to many transport robots that want to stay to fastidiously drawn strains on the manufacturing facility ground, these good AMRs will navigate round obstacles to get wherever they should go.
A World Pattern to Industrial Digitization
The Guadalajara manufacturing facility is only the start. Foxconn is beginning to design digital twins of factories all over the world, together with one in Taiwan the place it is going to manufacture electrical buses.
Foxconn can also be deploying NVIDIA Metropolis, an software framework for good cities and areas, to provide cameras on the store ground AI-powered imaginative and prescient. That offers plant managers deeper insights into every day operations and alternatives to additional streamline operations and enhance employee security.
With an estimated 10 million factories worldwide, the $46 trillion manufacturing sector is a wealthy subject for industrial digitalization.
Delta Electronics, MediaTek, MSI and Pegatron are amongst different prime electronics makers revealed at COMPUTEX this week how they’re utilizing NVIDIA AI and Omniverse to construct digital twins of their factories.
Like Foxconn, they’re racing to make their factories extra agile, autonomous and sustainable to serve the demand for greater than a billion smartphones, PCs and servers a 12 months.
A reference structure reveals the best way to develop manufacturing facility digital twins with the NVIDIA AI and Omniverse platforms. And find out about the experiences of 5 firms doing this work.
Watch NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang’s COMPUTEX keynote to get the most recent on AI and extra.
