ORiN (Open Robot/Resource interface for the Network) is a standard network interface for FA (

factory automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

) systems. The Japan Robot Association proposed ORiN in 2002, and the ORiN Forum develops and maintains the ORiN standard.

Background

The installation of PC (

Personal Computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

) applications in the factory has increased dramatically recently. Various types of

application software Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a ...

systems, such as production management systems, process management systems, operation monitoring systems and failure analysis systems, have become vital to factory operation. These

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

systems are becoming indispensable for the

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

system. However, most of these software systems are only compatible with specific models or specific manufacturers of the FA system. This is because the software system is “

custom made Custom, customary, or consuetudinary may refer to: Traditions, laws, and religion * Convention (norm), a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted rules, norms, standards or criteria, often taking the form of a custom * Norm (social), a r ...

” depending on the specific special network or protocol. Once this type of application is installed in a factory and if there are no resident

software engineer Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development. A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term ''p ...

s for the system, the improvement of the system will stop, the cost-effectiveness of the system will be worsen, and the total value of the system will deteriorate. Another recent problem in production is the rapid increase of the product demand at the initial stage of the product release. The manufactures will lose the chance of possible profit if they cannot meet the demand. To cope with the problem, manufacturing industry is trying to achieve the vertical upstart of the production, and high re-usability of both hardware and software is the key for the goal. To solve these problems, ORiN was developed as a standard PC application platform.

Outline

ORiN was originally developed as a standard platform for

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...

applications. Nowadays, ORiN became a manufacturing application program platform for handling wider range of resources including robots and other FA devices like programmable logic controllers (PLC) and numerical control (NC) systems, or more generic resources like

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases s ...

s and local file systems. ORiN specifications are on software only and are independent from hardware. Therefore, ORiN can be smoothly integrated with other existing technologies only by developing software. By using ORiN, development of manufacture-independent and model-independent application becomes easy. By utilizing ORiN, various application software development and active multi-vender system construction by third-party companies are expected. In addition, on economy side, increase of manufacturing

competitiveness In economics, competition is a scenario where different economic firmsThis article follows the general economic convention of referring to all actors as firms; examples in include individuals and brands or divisions within the same (legal) firm ...

, expansion of FA market, advancement of

software industry The software industry includes businesses for development, maintenance and publication of software that are using different business models, mainly either "license/maintenance based" (on-premises) or "Cloud based" (such as SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, MBa ...

in FA, and creation of FA engineering industry are also expected.

Features

ORiN is independent from hardware, and all ORiN specifications are for software. ORiN (Version 2) is composed of the following three key

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and Reproducibility, reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in me ...

specifications. # CAO (Controller Access Object), standard program interface specifications : Specifications to facilitate generalization of application software # CRD (Controller Resource Definition), standard data schema specifications : Specifications to facilitate

data exchange Data exchange is the process of taking data structured under a ''source'' schema and transforming it into a ''target'' schema, so that the target data is an accurate representation of the source data.A. Doan, A. Halevy, and Z. Ives.Principles of da ...

between application software # CAP (Controller Access Protocol), standard

communication protocol A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any kind of variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics and synchroniza ...

: Protocol for communication between FA devices and applications Three types of CAP are defined: CAP (SOAP), e-CAP (HTTP), b-CAP (TCP/UDP). With these three key standard technologies, ORiN provides following features. * Unified accessing model and

data representation Data and information visualization (data viz or info viz) is an interdisciplinary field that deals with the graphic representation of data and information. It is a particularly efficient way of communicating when the data or information is nu ...

* Variable and file based access to the resources in the device * Applicable to various devices in the factory * No device modification is required for ORiN connection *

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...

data representation to cooperate with other systems * Easy device access over

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

with simple parameter setup * Configurable application interface

History

* ORiN project started as a part of standardization activities in Japan Robot Association (JARA). * With the support from

New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization The , or NEDO, is Japan's largest public management organization promoting research and development as well as deployment of industrial, energy and environmental technologies. In 2003, NEDO was reorganized as an Independent Administrative Institu ...

(NEDO), ORiN system was developed from 1999 (3 years activity). * Member companies of JARA participated field robot connection test at

International Robot Exhibition The International Robot Exhibition (IREX) is the largest robot trade fair in the world. It is an event that has been staged once every two years in Tokyo, Japan since 1973 and is organized by the Japan Robot Association (JARA) and the company Nikkan ...

(IREX) in 1999 and 2001. ORiN Version 1.0 was formally created in 2002. * ORiN Forum was created in 2002 to promote and advance the ORiN standard. (Key members of the Forum: FA device manufacture, software development company, system integrator company, etc.) * ORiN Forum member companies participated various ORiN field application tests for three years. The test results were reflected to the ORiN Version 2.0 (created in 2005). ORiN2 SDK was released as a supported software product in 2005. * ORiN application was proposed as an annex of ISO20242-Part4. The DIS of the standard was approved in July 2010.

ORiN related terms

; ORiN SDK: : ORiN SDK is a software development kit for ORiN Version 1.0, including RAO, standard providers and development tools. The SDK is used to develop original RAO providers and ORiN applications, and the SDK is also used as ORiN execution environment. ORiN Forum distributes the SDK, but the Forum plans to stop the distribution and

technical support Technical support (abbreviated as tech support) is a call centre type customer service provided by companies to advise and assist registered users with issues concerning their technical products. Traditionally done on the phone, technical suppor ...

of the SDK at the end of March 2011. ; ORiN2 SDK: : ORiN 2 SDK is a software development kit for ORiN Version 2.0. The SDK provides standard interface specifications for applications and devices, standard data schema, and standard communication protocol. Development of provider module (extension module) based on the specifications is also possible with the SDK. DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED, a subsidiary of Denso Corporation, distributes and supports the SDK.

External links