Currenta tests digital twins for environmental laboratory automation

Chemical park operator Currenta, in collaboration with robotics software company Wandelbots and IT service provider T-Systems, is testing the virtual automation of environmental laboratories through Project ELARA (Environmental Laboratory Automation and Robotics for Analytics).

The project utilizes digital twins to simulate complex and varied laboratory workflows, specifically for the robotic analysis of water and wastewater samples. By using the NVIDIA Isaac Sim simulation platform, the partners can model and validate robot movements and workflows in a physically based virtual environment before transferring them to physical industrial robots.

Key objectives of the initiative include reducing processing times, increasing plant availability, and significantly improving occupational safety. Automated systems are intended to minimize direct human contact with potentially hazardous substances. T-Systems provides a sovereign Industrial AI Cloud infrastructure hosted in Germany to ensure that sensitive laboratory data is processed within the European legal framework.