The 7th trade press conference on the open, Linux-based ctrlX AUTOMATION platform from Bosch Rexroth made it clear that the right strategies are the basis for visible success, even and perhaps especially in economically and politically difficult times. From the operating system ctrlX OS and ctrlX CORE to apps, soft safety and specific AI solutions, there are many new developments and the world of partners and OEMs is also growing.
The ctrlX AUTOMATION team: (from left) Theresa Christ, Carina Heil, Michael Langfinger, Steffen Winkler, Hans Michael Krause (photo Sendler)
Steffen Winkler, Sales Manager of the Automation & Electrification Solutions business unit at Bosch Rexroth, and his team were in high spirits as they presented an astonishing wealth of innovations relating to ctrlX AUTOMATION since the last trade press conference a year ago.
When asked whether the current political and economic conditions are affecting the development of the ctrlX AUTOMATION platform and its ecosystem, Winkler gave a clear no: “We are growing by 20% this year with ctrlX AUTOMATION and now have almost 2,500 customers with something running on the platform. We are very satisfied with the current growth rates compared to the current market conditions.”
This success probably has a lot to do with the fact that Bosch Rexroth is consistently working on expanding the platform in terms of hardware and software as well as the apps available to all users. Innovations in automation hardware are by no means becoming less important. After all, customers ultimately do their business with machines and systems for which they also need the best drives.
Steffen Winkler gave an overview of the most important innovations in the ctrlX AUTOMATION portfolio.
Bosch Rexroth is responding to the rapidly increasing demand for computing capacity at the edge with the optional expansion of the ctrlX CORE with the HAILO 8 M.2 AI Accelleration Module. Depending on the CPU, it offers up to a hundred times the computing power for the use of AI, for example. And an additional 80 GB memory card is now available for local data processing.
For communication, the ctrlX CORE offers two new apps for integration into automation standards, PROFINET Device and Ethernet/IP Adapter. Another new feature is the availability of the complete Codesys Fieldbus PLC libraries. The ctrlX I/O portfolio has been expanded by 23 new modules, including additional multirange modules, high-speed I/Os and I/O Link.
For the ctrlX IPCs, Winkler highlighted the availability of the NVIDIA 2000A GPU for 10 to 20-fold acceleration of image processing and demanding AI tasks.
Steffen Winkler, Vertriebsleiter der Business Unit Automaion & Electrification Solutions, Bosch Rexroth (Foto Sendler)
The second major innovation is that the IPCs are now supplied with the ctrlX OS pre-installed. The ctrlX HMI devices have been given a more compact design with up to twice the performance.
There are new drives in all ctrlX DRIVE performance classes. The ctrlX FLOW portfolio offers two new elements, a ctrlX FLOW 6D for significantly smaller payloads and a switch for the high-speed linear motion system ctrlX FLOW HS.
ctrlX OS is CRA-ready, as the certificates required to prepare for arming have been achieved. This makes Bosch Rexroth one of the few platform providers to have achieved this level of cyber security, as can be seen in the security table in the Smart Automation market overview.
From now on, no additional hardware needs to be used with a controller for safety. The multicore processors make it possible to provide safety, including the system’s redundancy capability, exclusively via software. ctrlX Safety PLC is a new app of the ctrlX OS operating system.
The ctrlX OS Store currently contains 86 apps. Six are new and three have an extended range of functions. Among the new ones, Steffen Winkler emphasized another safety-relevant one, the Security Sanner. With this app, machines can be fully inventoried at network level. This includes an assessment of the security status of the machinery. Incidentally, the new and old apps include some from Bosch Rexroth and some from platform partners and OEMs.
To conclude his comprehensive overview, Steffen Winkler explained the announcement of solution sets using the example of “Mobile Robots”. Bosch Rexroth started in 2019 with ctrlX AUTOMATION in the Motion & Drive area: “But over the years, we have realized This platform is drawing us into completely new markets. Today, we can say that there is practically nothing that cannot be automated with it. To make it even more accessible for users, we decided to develop so-called solution sets. These are solution packages that make it much easier for users to implement industry-specific solutions.”
Such solution sets will be on display at the Bosch Rexroth stand at the upcoming SPS. The solution sets can be viewed in detail on the homepage. This includes direct access to the configuration and selection of the required components from Bosch Rexroth and partners.
AI also plays an enormous role in the field of automation. Steffen Winkler explained that this is being driven forward with a ctrlX AUTOMATION toolbox at all levels, from computing power and storage capacities to data availability and specific tools to support the customer’s engineering.
Theresa Christ, development engineer for new technologies. (Photo Sendler)
As a concrete example, Theresa Christ, Development Engineer for New Technologies, presented the Ask iXi AI agent and gave a live demonstration of some of its functionalities. The key feature here is that this agent accesses the entire ctlX AUTOMATION documentation on the website – currently more than 600 documents – and answers any questions about the platform and its details in seconds.
Hans Michael Krause, Director Partner Ecosystem, presented the further development of ctrlX World, which has grown to more than 110 partners in total over the past year. 21 have been added. These partners belong to all industrial sectors and application areas in which ctrlX AUTOMATION is used. They contribute hardware and their own apps and complement the Bosch Rexroth range.
Two of the partners presented themselves in person, namely safety expert Schmersal and drive manufacturer SEW Eurodrive. Schmersal is contributing the Safety Fieldbox SFB.
Hans Michael Krause is Director Partner Ecosystems. (Photo Sendler)
Carina Heil, Head of Business Operations Automation Software (Photo Sendler)
With the ability to run its drives on ctrlX OS, SEW Eurodrive has ensured that all SEW drives can now also be integrated. Cognibotics and Emerson are also new partners.
Carina Heil is Head of Business Operations Automation Software at Bosch Rexroth. She described in detail the most important new features of the ctrlX OS operating system, which has now been released in a long-term support version LTS 3.6.
What is new is that the operating system is available in three versions adapted to different requirements, namely Standard, Customized and Premium. There is now also a virtual ctrlX OS, so that scaling is possible across all levels.
Advantec has been acquired as a new, fifth OEM to offer modular and secure edge solutions.
Jash Bansidar, Head of IoT Automation at Advantec, presented the company as one of the market leaders in edge devices. Edge IPCs are now supplied with ctrlX OS and the apps from the ctrlX OS Store.