While at CONEXPO/CON-AGG earlier this year, I noticed a few themes running through many of the booths. One was the discussion over steering, and I cover that in a multi-source trends piece here. Closely tied into this is the notion that software has moved from “nice to have” to core infrastructure in fluid power design.
Nearly all these conversations about the growing need for software are linked to the shortage of highly skilled operators and engineers, with the need to make complex machines more manageable by less experienced people. For example, Bosch Rexroth experts Terry Hershberger, Mobile Hydraulics Technology Leader and Gunther Nunweiler, Vice President Sales, Mobile Hydraulics, Bosch Rexroth USA, said their software-driven systems let a less-skilled operator achieve the same quality of work as a seasoned expert. For example, electronic open-circuit and closed-loop controls (EOC/EEC) allow software, sensors, and feedback loops to handle precision and response, while the operator simply “drives” the machine. They added that’s why steering and control design within machine cabs are reflective of gaming-style joysticks, offering vibration feedback, geofencing, and automation of repetitive motions. These let someone without 10 years on a backhoe still dig a precise trench or work near hazards safely.
The key for software is to make machines smarter to stretch talent. Even the OEMs agree — during a presentation to the media, LuiGong said that in their smarter machines, operators can choose simple presets (hammer, mass excavation, grading, etc.) on a monitor, and the control software reconfigures the hydraulics for them. That removes tuning complexity and lowers the skill barrier for productivity and fuel economy.
On the engineering side, it is becoming difficult to find skilled software engineers, as they are lured away by tech giants. This is driving a need for reusable software platforms and ecosystems where users can plug and play from a curated set of components rather than build from scratch, said Matthias Goebel, President & CEO Bosch Rexroth Compact Hydraulics.
This is where AI is coming into play. It can be used to help generate and test code, making functional safety-rated software development more manageable with fewer people, said Luke Wadsley, Director of Engineering Solutions, North America, Danfoss. Rexroth’s Nunweiler agreed, saying that AI and sensor data enables adaptive control and automation, so fewer engineers can cover more complex control strategies.
Simple tools are required to allow non-software engineers to program a machine. Wadsley emphasized the need to move from tuning individual components to optimizing the pump, valve stack, and prime mover together. That shift relies on model-based design, starting in simulation, then carrying the same software into testing and deployment so functional safety and cyber resilience requirements can be met without rewriting code at each step. He pointed out Danfoss’ Plus+1 software blocks as an example, which allow users to build common machine functions faster.
Ross Johannes, Application Tech Services Team Leader, HydraForce, agreed with this need for simplistic use, as he detailed how bringing together HydraForce’s software with Bosch Rexroth’s hardware, gives users a complete, advanced package. “We’ve taken the HydraForce programming software, HF-Impulse, which is graphical programming. It’s drag-and-drop and very easy for an initiate, a journeyman, to configure and program. Then we put that on the Bosch controllers. So now we get the ease of use from the HydraForce side, and we get the top spec hardware from Bosch,” he told me.
How are you using software in your designs? Have simplistic block or drag-and-drop programs allowed you to design machines faster? We’d love to hear from you, so please drop me a note. And don’t miss our intro story about Paro Software’s new HydroCam software, which was designed to simplify hydraulic manifold CNC programming.
Filed Under: Components, Engineering software
