SRCI is taking off!
Almost 10 years ago, an engineer had the idea of creating a standardized robot command interface that would allow PLC-programmers to program robots directly in the PLC. PI has been supporting this technology standard for three years and is driving its development, standardization and international dissemination – with great success: 28 companies are now accompanying the standardization process. The companies iNexBot and Fairino are the latest joining companies to the standardization process.
A lot has also been achieved in terms of technology. Seven manufacturers have now launched products with the standardized interface on the market. Most recently, YASKAWA and Universal Robots were added to SRCI’s ‘Broad Release’ status. Work on the interface is also progressing: There are now over 115 robot functions that the user can call up in the PLC, while the robot controller reports the required robot status information back to the PLC. This simplifies day-to-day work enormously and makes it much easier for users to get started with robotics.
Vendor Map Provides Orientation
Work is also made easier by the SRCI Vendor Map, which has been eagerly awaited by users and manufacturers alike. The SRCI Vendor Map is the official point of contact for up-to-date information on SRCI. The website provides all important information about released SRCI implementations. At the same time, you can see which manufacturers already support SRCI, which functions they offer or you can also search for a manufacturer that supports a specific function. A click also shows which functions are available in a specific setup of SRCI client and interpreter.
Shared Exchange
Personal dialogue is also immensely important for such a young technology. This year’s ‘Get Together for Robotics’ conference provided the ideal opportunity for this. On 23 and 24 October 2024, over 120 participants met in Erlangen to discuss the latest developments in the industry, accompanied by numerous online participants. The event covered the entire spectrum of the industry and provided an impressive platform for networking and discussing the opportunities and challenges of robotics. Trends and innovations in robotics took center stage at the event, which was held over two days for the first time. In addition to robot experts, PLC manufacturers and start-ups, many users (around a third of the participants) and experts from universities were also represented. The highlights of the event included two high-caliber roundtable discussions:
At the Robotics Executive Roundtable ‘Trends in Robotics’, Reinhold Gross (CEO of KUKA Robotics), Mladen Milicevic (CEO of Unchained Robotics), David Reger (CEO of Neura Robotics) and Helmut Schmid (Chairman of the board Deutscher Robotik Verband) discussed the future potential and challenges of robotics technology.
The second roundtable discussion focused on the technology in more detail. Experts Bertus de Groot (Lead Application Engineer at YASKAWA Europe), Kasper Døring (Technology Officer, COBOT SW at Universal Robots), Günter Heinendirk (Manager Digital Transformation at STÄUBLI TEC-SYSTEMS GMBH) and Wolfgang Lienke (Vice President JAKA Europe) reported on their practical experience with SRCI and its significance for robot manufacturers and their customers. Particularly exciting: All robot manufacturers at this roundtable already support the new SRCI data interface.
Information on All Channels
There have also been other changes at SRCI: a logo has been registered as a trademark so that manufacturers and users can identify products with the new interface even more quickly. The first SRCI Whitepaper is also available for download. It offers a comprehensive preview of the official SRCI specification and is of particular interest to developers and manufacturers. For newcomers, we recommend the SRCI wikipedia article or the exchange via LinkedIn to find out about exciting developments. Finally, we would like to recommend the SRCI webinar planned for February 13, 2025. Here, anyone interested in SRCI can find out all the details about the innovative data interface.
