The pair have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will see robots connected to the cloud via 5G mobile technology – so-called 5G Cloud Robotics. With this connection using uRLLC (Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communications) slice technology, robot motion computation can be moved to the cloud, with the benefit being scalability of computing power plus energy savings at the robot platform.
Says said Dirk Pensky, head of Festo’s software engineering department: “In the factory of the future, everyone and everything will stay connected to rely on manufacturing services provided in industrial clouds. On the one hand, some of those services need high bandwidth to transfer information to and/or from the cloud - image processing and AR/VR services. On the other hand, industrial control services require low to ultra-low latency and highest reliability. Festo is involved in different activities to shape the future of our factories. 5G will become the communication technology for smart manufacturing and we aim to prove that with this cooperation.”
Huawei has also signed an MOU with robot maker KUKA, in 2016, to pursue 5G Cloud Robotics. The pair have this year demonstrated latency as low as 1 ms with 1 μs clock synchronisation and reliability of 99.999%. (The human neural network has a latency of 100 ms. if the robot can respond within this delay, it can be considered "seamless".)
These figures relate to a demonstration where two robot arms performed dancing and drumming in "a precise synchronisation and seamless collaboration manner".
Huawei is aiming to grow industrial partnerships and develop an open ecosystem related to 5G and through its X Labs operation has set up three laboratories that aim to explore three major areas: people-to-people connectivity; applications for vertical sectors; and applications in household.
Mobile phone firm Ericsson is also developing 5G Cloud Robotics - see video
