VDA 5050, MassRobotics, Open-RMF: What is what and what is where?

One thing first: The currently existing standards for mobile robots, which are shown in the interactive graphics, are not really in competition with each other from a technical point of view.

While the VDA 5050 interface is a standard for controlling various mobile robots by a central fleet manager, the MassRobotics Interoperability Standard (MRIS) a completely different purpose: monitoring various mobile robots and any other fleet managers.

Another difference: With both standards, the status of the individual mobile robots can be communicated to the production environment. But the VDA 5050 is more reliant on this status communication, as its core task is to control mobile robots — while MRIS only about the production environment informs.

But also the communication participants and When who who Something, are each defined differently: In the VDA 5050 standard, the central fleet manager awards transport orders to transport robots, which then each transmit their statuses back to the fleet manager.

With MRIS, external systems can also be brought into play: A mobile robot or a fleet manager communicates its status to other robots, fleet managers or ERP/WMS systems in the same environment. There are no fixed communication partners defined here.

The map shows the currently existing Mobile Robot standards.

To the point: An overview of the individual standards

Mass AMR interoperability standard (Mass Robotics)

origin: Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Responsible: MassRobotics Autonomous Mobile Robots Interoperability Working Group; non-profit initiative consisting of AMR vendors and robotics startups, engineers, component suppliers, developers, investors, academics, and end-user companies from AMRs

Launch: 2020; version 1.0 was released on May 18, 2021

Compatible robots: Track-guided and fully autonomous transport robots

Known application examples: n/a

Transport technology & serialization format: web sockets; JSON

Content focus/goals:

• to improve the use and acceptance of autonomous mobile robots across the industry
• Should help companies effectively use AMRs from different providers to make mobile robotics and the associated technologies successful as an industry
• Standard is intended to promote or implement automation efforts in warehouses and factories

Things worth knowing:

• USA centered
• The first part of the term is borrowed from the US state of Massachusetts, which is home to the initiative
• The standard allows AMRs to communicate their position, speed, direction, condition, availability, and other features to other similar vehicles

VDA 5050 (VDA & VDMA)

origin: Germany

Responsible: Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) & Association of German Mechanical and Plant Engineering (VDMA)

Launch: 2019; version 1.0 August 2019, version 1.1 June 2020, version 2.0 January 2022

Compatible robots: Track-guided and fully autonomous transport robots

Known application examples: Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Hanover

Transport technology & serialization format: MQTT; JSON

Content focus/goals:

• Developed as a universally applicable interface for communication between control stations and driverless transport systems
• Enable the operation of vendor-independent, heterogeneous fleets

Things worth knowing:

• Control system providers such as SYNAOS, which focus exclusively on the development of a control system, are actively involved in the development of the VDA 5050; on a voluntary basis and according to the open-source principle

• Although developed in the automotive context, VDA 5050 is in principle not an exclusive standard for the automotive sector and can also be used in all other industrial sectors
• With the “libVDA5050++” VDA 5050 adapter, AGVs can be made VDA 5050 ready without their manufacturers having to go through the complete technical VDA 5050 onboarding

Open-RMF (Open Source Robotics Foundation)

origin: San Jose, California, United States

Responsible: Open Robotics/Open Source Robotic Foundation

Launch: 2012

Compatible robots: service robot

Known application examples: Changi General Hospital (Singapore)

Transport technology & serialization format: not known

Content focus & goals:

• As a free, open-source, modular software system, enable the exchange and interoperability of robotic systems
• Coordinate multiple fleets of indoor and outdoor robots with typical robotics use cases and integrate them with elevators, doors, and other building management systems

Things worth knowing:

• Open-RMF was originally developed for robots in the healthcare industry, but is just as relevant and useful for offices, airports, sports venues, shopping centers, factories, distribution centers, and more
• Not just a focus on intralogistics, but primarily service-focused
• So far, no further distribution beyond Singapore
• Open-RMF is an extension of the Robot Operating System (ROS) that uses the Data Distribution Service (DDS) as a communication middleware to send messages between services. DDS is designed to maintain communication between networked systems on warships—even when parts of the network are literally on fire

Asia: China

It is difficult to say whether there is currently a uniform Chinese communication interface for mobile robots. In any case, there are no official announcements or published initiatives. Experts say that Chinese, Japanese and South Korean companies are making general inquiries about the VDA 5050 issue. Such dialogues and the high practical benefits of such an interface suggest that development is likely to have started in Asia as well.

“If there is ever a standard, it will be an intra-Chinese one for the domestic sector. In the foreseeable future, Chinese companies will not join a global standard such as the VDA 5050,” says automotive veteran Lars Bäumann, who has been monitoring the Chinese market in recent years as Chairperson Chapter Shanghai of the Federal Logistics Association (BVL).

“Chinese politics and business think very long-term and plan in cycles of up to 20 years,” adds Dr. Susanne Lehmann. As Executive Director Logistics, she was responsible for Volkswagen's logistics strategy in China as well as material and vehicle logistics in ten Chinese factories. A nationwide, standardized communication interface was and had not been planned so far. “However, back then, we set up a control system together with Jiaotong University in order to create a standard within VW at least. We have coordinated closely with the experts from SYNAOS. ”

Chinese companies also took an extremely pragmatic approach when making decisions, such as automation projects. “Only if they would benefit in particular from a global communication initiative for mobile robots in China would they consider implementing a mobile robot standard,” continues the VW manager. Unlike European companies, Chinese companies do not have global production and therefore do not have to scale intercontinentally. This makes the need to adapt a standard such as VDA 5050 even less attractive.

Asia: Japan

In Japan, there are isolated initiatives that are committed to a common standard. “But this seems to be driven by one of the local mobile robot suppliers rather than a general industry issue,” says Tom Andersson, co-founder and principal analyst at STIQ style intelligence in London.

At the same time, the shortage of skilled workers is also raging in the Land of the Rising Sun. This is driving the need for mobile robotics. In the current STIQ Report states a representative of the Japanese AGV manufacturer LexxPluss: “Compared to the USA, the Japanese market is relatively slow in terms of demand for AGVs and AMRs. But I think this is changing due to the increasing labor shortage, which is getting worse every year. ”

With regard to standards that compete with the VDA 5050, LexxPluss in STIQ Report: “We are working with a number of customers from the automotive sector to develop new standards. This is because none of the companies has yet set standards for AMRs. As a result, they don't know which AMR is good enough to function as part of their production process. ”

BVL representative Lars Bäumann, however, classifies Japanese automation strategies: “Unlike in this country, Japanese companies only introduce automation when other options, such as humane resources, have been exhausted. They pursue much finer strategies. Risk management always plays an outstanding role.” And adds: “If they see that processes work better with people, then they will continue to use people to do so. The same applies to technologies. Repeatability and compliance in production are top priorities. ”

‍