Glossary

One word — one meaning

The terms used by the site, the documentation and the implementation: from the twin to the drive profile.

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Twin and equipment

What a twin consists of

Equipment twin: The description of a machine or unit: axes and limits, drives, tooling, zeros. The single source of truth: the controller configuration is always generated from it.
Virtual copy: A digital twin with two-way links: to the real equipment and to its model in the simulator. For virtual parts the simulator’s response is the feedback; for real ones it is the drive and sensors, and the model’s response goes into the comparison (line shadow).
Mechanism: A reference model of the body: links, joints, limits. Editing the mechanism changes all machines of this kind.
Instance: A specific machine at your site: its own travels, gear ratios, drives, place in the cell.
Machine type: The kind of equipment by kinematics: 3-axis mill, 5-axis with a table, lathe, 6-axis arm. A type is kinematics, not a brand.
Unit: A line unit with its own cycle (Unit in ISA-88): machine, robot, conveyor, positioner. A unit knows only its own tags.
Project and line: A project is one zone of the line: a 3D scene of units and its procedure. A line is a group of zones with buffers between them.
Tag: A link between units: Status of the writer unit → Command of the reader unit; each link has one writer. The safety chain runs separately.
Tooling: Equipment on a machine or arm: spindle head, torch, gripper, clamp, vice, chuck.
Datasheet and measurement: A datasheet number comes from a document; a measured one was obtained on this hardware. The source is shown next to the value.
URDF: An open mechanism description format: links, joints, limits.

Programs

How the work is described

Cutting program: The path is derived from the volume to be removed from the blank; coordinates come from the part.
Motion program: The author names the path: where and how the tooling moves. Available to any mechanism.
PLC program: Unit logic in IEC 61131-3 — SFC or ST — with PLCopen motion blocks.
Part zero: The near left corner of the blank, Z0 is its top face. Where the blank lies on the table is a property of the setup, not of the program.
Tool slot: A reference to a place in the machine tool table: diameter, profile, stick-out, teeth, number — at once.
Virtual axes and drives: One twin comes up without hardware (axes looped back on themselves) or on drives. The mode is chosen explicitly.
SFC: The IEC 61131-3 sequence language: steps, transitions, actions.
ST: IEC 61131-3 Structured Text.

Commissioning and implementation

Before and after start-up

Virtual commissioning: Checking the real unit program on a virtual setup before the equipment arrives. More
Simulator: The unit process with friction, mass and inertia: product, belt, rollers, sensors.
Test run: Starting the unit simulator in the browser without a test bench.
Line shadow: The line executed in parallel in the simulator: the same commands go both to the equipment and to its model, feedback comes from both sides, differences are visible at once. More
Virtual unit: A unit without hardware whose cycle starts on a sensor of a real neighbour; it is replaced by a real one without rebuilding the line.
Box: A computer next to the equipment: isolated virtual machines with a real-time loop and their own EtherCAT port; what is known about the bench box is on the “On-premise installation” page.
R&D implementation: A research and development stage under a contract: target figures are in the specification.
Test protocol: The test result on your equipment against the target figures.

Bus and drives

Commissioning

Slave: A device on the EtherCAT bus: servo drive, I/O coupler.
Drive profile: The role of a drive — axis, spindle, belt in speed mode — with its parameters and limits. Without a profile, start-up refuses in words.
Commissioning: Working with drives and axes: jog, measurements, parameters. In PackML terms — Manual mode.
Open standards: IEC 61131-3, PackML, ISA-88, AutomationML, EtherCAT, CiA 402. All standards

Line and unit

How units work together

Phase: The smallest unit action with parameters: loading, program, unloading at a machine; transfer at a robot. The cell procedure commands the phases.
Cell procedure: The zone SFC program: a step is a unit, a phase command and a completion condition by tag.
Port: An input or output of a unit for the project; the unit program declares it, the project connects it. A product goes through the in and out ports.
Place: A formal program point — Pick, Place; the actual point is given by the project at the unit.
Material and information link: The first passes a product — type, dimensions, mass, position, nested buffer; the second passes a signal without a product.
Zone and buffer: A zone is a project, one part of the line; the buffer between zones decides whether a stop is passed on to the neighbour.
Channel role: The meaning of an input or output: “part in place”, “grip confirmed”, “stopper”. The role suggests an action to the author.
Axis owner: The executor that writes the axis at the moment: the machine program, the unit block or commissioning. There is one owner; changing it — only at rest.
Four-window rule: Any unit setting reads the same in the twin, on the test bench, in commissioning and on the panel at the equipment.

Program and run

Lab and test bench words

Program kind: Cut — the path is derived from the part volume; motion — the author names the path. The kind is chosen once together with the equipment.
Setup: Where the blank lies: mechanism → setup → blank → program zero. Moving the blank changes the setup zeros, not the code.
Knob: An input variable of the program with range and units; the values are stored at the unit.
Motion verb: A step of intent in a motion program: place, move, jaws, transfer, flip, seam. The platform expands it into blocks.
Start point: A twin point where a motion program starts and ends; then it can be put into a procedure in any order.
Forcing: Substituting a value into an input in the lab for debugging; it is cleared on an emergency stop and does not go to production.
Run log: Recent unit starts: reached the end, stopped, error or outcome unknown.
Bus snapshot: A copy of the bus devices taken by scanning; profiles and bindings work both on the live bus and on the snapshot.
Breed reference: The example program of a machine type: it passes checks and sending without remarks; a complaint on the reference means the type is not set up.
Line canon: Logic — SFC, states and tags — PackML, geometry — an open mechanism description, exchange — AutomationML.
Name table: The mapping “mechanism file joint → program channel” when joints are named in their own way.

Next step

Discuss an implementation

Describe the unit or line — we will tell you what we will verify and in what time. Target indicators are fixed in the implementation specification.