From Reactive to Proactive: How Industry 4.0 Enables Maintenance 4.0 for Robotics Arm

The implementation of robotic systems in manufacturing processes has become increasingly common for automation purposes, and it’s crucial to have real-time monitoring systems in place to ensure the effective maintenance of each joint. Adopting the Maintenance 4.0 paradigm is critical to achieving this goal. By leveraging data on a robot’s electrical parameters, it’s possible to prevent issues like driver failures, system overloads, and engine damage, while also protecting the mechanical structure of the device. This research project utilizes the Robotic Operating System (ROS) and a low-cost Raspberry Pi (RPi) microcontroller to monitor the electrical current of KUKA youBot joints. Communication is facilitated through the MQTT protocol, and a cloud platform is used to provide a graphical monitoring interface. The researchers define a test plan that involves adding different weights to the manipulator to evaluate the system’s effectiveness, which is found to be 97%. The solution enables the real-time transmission of data without any loss, ensuring reliable monitoring of the robotic system’s electrical parameters.