How to Switch Between Human and MiR Robot for Transport in Process Flow Based on Condition

Process Modeling
1

Hello Visual Components Community,

Iā€™m working on a process flow in Visual Components to simulate the transport of a cylinder through multiple stations. The default flow involves a human transporting the cylinder from a conveyor to Table 1 (Process Node 1), followed by a MiR robot transporting it from Table 1 to Table 2 (Process Node 2). However, under a specific condition, I want the MiR robot to handle the transport from the conveyor to Table 1 (replacing the human) while maintaining the Table 1 to Table 2 transport.

Current Setup:

  • Flow 1: Conveyor ā†’ Human ā†’ Table 1 (Process Node 1)
  • Flow 2: Table 1 ā†’ MiR Robot ā†’ Table 2 (Process Node 2)
  • Desired Flow 3 (under condition): Conveyor ā†’ MiR Robot ā†’ Table 1 ā†’ MiR Robot ā†’ Table 2

I created three separate flows in the Process Flow Editor to represent these scenarios. However, the MiR robot does not pick up the cylinder from the conveyor to Table 1 in Flow 3. I suspect the issue is related to product definitions, as each flow seems to require different product instances, causing conflicts.

Challenges:

  1. The MiR robot fails to transport the cylinder from the conveyor to Table 1 in Flow 3.
  2. Managing product consistency across flows to ensure the same cylinder is recognized throughout the process.
  3. Dynamically switching between the human and MiR robot for the conveyor-to-Table 1 transport based on a condition (e.g., a boolean trigger).

Questions:

  1. How can I configure the process flow to allow the MiR robot to replace the human for the conveyor-to-Table 1 transport under a specific condition?
  2. Is there a way to use a single product definition across multiple flows to avoid conflicts?
  3. Should I use a different approach, such as a single flow with conditional logic, instead of separate flows? If so, how can I implement this in Visual Components?
2

As you can see in the video, I want the same cylinder to be picked up by either the human, or the robot, depending upon the hmi button. But, after pressing RUN, only 1 of these can pick the cylinder. I want to dynamically select either robot or human to pick the cylinder.
Thnx

2 Likes