Rockwell Automation & NVIDIA team up for future factory innovation

Rockwell Automation, a specialist in industrial automation and digital transformation, has announced its collaboration with NVIDIA to advance next-generation industrial architecture. The partnership aims at constructing the factory of the future by simplifying the process of digitalization of industrial processes for automation clients.

The collaboration will employ NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud APIs to boost data interoperability and visualization, thus facilitating the digital twin creation of production systems. The present era is experiencing surging demand for intelligent automation and robotics in manufacturing, a demand the new partnership seeks to address. As part of NVIDIA joining the Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork program, Rockwell customers will gain the advantage of using NVIDIA applications to increase the resilience, agility, and sustainability of their operations.

The manufacturing sector, a gargantuan $15-trillion global industry, impacts all facets of human life, these include access to clean water, sustenance, medicinal drugs, sustainable energy, mobility, and several others. Rockwell, in its pursuit to transform this industry, envisages the factory of the future equipped with enhanced sensing capabilities with machine vision, high-speed computing potential in control systems, superior simulations with learning agents, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), and generative AI (GenAI) experiences to optimize information retrieval for frontline operators.

In the words of Jordan Reynolds, vice president, Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy, Rockwell Automation, "Our work with NVIDIA is poised to help accelerate the future of industrial operations and create value across our portfolio of software, hardware, and services—from the cloud to the factory floor."

The collaboration will facilitate further integration of NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud APIs with Emulate3D by Rockwell Automation. This integration will offer users data interoperability, live collaboration, and physically based visualisation for designing, building, and operating industrial-scale digital twins of production systems. According to Rev Lebaredian, vice president of Omniverse and Simulation Technology, NVIDIA, "The demand for the accelerated computing needed to create, simulate, and operate large-scale digital twins is rising."

The scarcity of labour and the necessity for enhanced efficiency have catalysed the enormous demand for intelligent automation and robotics in manufacturing and logistics. Rockwell, by developing on the NVIDIA robotics platform for edge AI and through its recent acquisition of OTTO Motors, is fostering the advent of AMRs and process automation applications for industrial customers.

A recent Rockwell Automation survey revealed that manufacturers consider AI as the critical feature in driving significant business outcomes. The data reveals that 83 percent of manufacturers are anticipating using GenAI in their operations in 2024. This has led to NVIDIA officially joining the Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork, thus enabling Rockwell customers to utilise NVIDIA applications, enhancing their operations towards greater resilience, agility and sustainability.