Are you open? Open to new ideas? Open to new opportunities? Open for business? As the advanced manufacturing landscape continues to evolve, industry leaders must be ready to innovate. That includes embracing open-source tools.Industry experts discussed open-source tools for advanced manufacturing and their ability to democratize the industry during a webinar presented by AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology. Researchers from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Thomas Kurfess, Ph.D., Lonnie J. Love, Ph.D., and Joshua Vaughan – invited Daniel Rogge, CEO of Tormach, Inc., and Matt Robinson, program manager at the ROS-Industrial Consortium-Americas, to join them for a discussion on the future of open-source tools.They all agreed on one central message: Open-source tools are poised to change manufacturing technology, and it's time to embrace them. So where do you start? Understand a few key facts.ROS is not a dude. The first step, according to Rogge, is to simply learn about ROS. “ROS is not a dude,” he says jokingly. ROS stands for Robot Operating System. The system's software libraries and tools can be used to build custom robot applications – and it is all open source.Rogge continues, “[ROS] is an incredible piece of software. From the machine tool manufacturer's perspective, a lot of problems can be solved by software. Let's say I want a robot to be visually aware. I just have to take that code and integrate it into our machine, and then I can deliver to the customer quicker.”Open source is open to all. As the name implies, open-source technology is open to all. This is leading to what Oak Ridge likes to call the democratization of technology. Making software tools available to all means more opportunities, more creativity, and more collaboration. That's a win-win-win.Software skills are essential. The workforce of the future must develop software skills to meet the demands of the increasingly automated manufacturing facility. Even more than traditional machining skills, the most valuable employees should know how to write the code that can “glue” individual open-source software solutions together to make them custom.Knowledge-sharing is a huge benefit. In the past, manufacturers were only able to share knowledge with their immediate coworkers. Tips and hacks were passed down verbally — like treasured inheritances. Now, we are only a few clicks away from an endless supply of videos and tutorials. For instance, the ROS-Industrial training website offers valuable educational content for beginners and more advanced users. Of course, it's all open source!Technology is an opportunity, not a threat. Technology is not a threat to your security or your job.First, all the experts pointed out that open-source software has a lot of eyes on it, unlike closed-source software. Meaning, mistakes or potential hacks will likely be discovered and remedied.Learning to use open-source tools presents a huge opportunity for small shops – affording them access to some of the same tools that larger corporations use and allowing them to efficiently address worker shortages.“Open source is accessible. You just need a computer and an internet connection. It truly is one of the key building blocks for ongoing innovation in manufacturing,” Robinson concludes. “It is really an exciting time to work in technology.”The MTConnect standard (ANSI/MTC1.4-2018) offers a semantic vocabulary for manufacturing equipment to provide structured, contextualized data with no proprietary format. With uniform data, developers and integrators can focus on useful, productive manufacturing applications rather than translation. Data sources include: machine tools; production equipment; sensors and sensor controllers, and other factory hardware. Applications that consume MTConnect data provide more efficient operations, improved production optimization, and increased productivity.It's clearly time to open up. Make sure your company is ready for the future by investigating – or fully embracing – open-source tools for manufacturing. The code is there. You don't even have to unlock it. Just use it!To learn more about open-source tools, visit ros.org and stay tuned to AMT for future webinars with our experts.
Open-source tools for advanced manufacturing have the capacity to democratize the industry and address pressing problems, including workforce shortages. Embrace open source and open doors! Get started with AMT’s on-demand webinar.
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