SEW-EURODRIVE is an international market leader in drive technology and automation, founded in Bruchsal in 1931. With around 22,000 employees in 55 countries, it currently generates sales of 4.5 billion euros (2023). The company delivers innovative solutions for motion control, power transmission, production, and industrial applications across sectors. Their drive spectrum ranges from fast, dynamic and high-precision, to very large and high-torque.
This case study highlights how SEW-EURODRIVE has transformed the way virtual commissioning is conducted by integrating MOVIKIT® Custom SimInterface into Unity via realvirtual.io. This standardized interface, available in the Unity Asset Store, enables seamless connectivity between industrial controllers and digital twins, allowing engineers to test, refine, and validate programmable logic controller (PLC) automation logic before deployment.
Read on to learn more.
Industrial automation systems generally require extensive commissioning efforts, often delaying production schedules due to unverified automation code and last-minute debugging on-site. It is also a high-risk process involving safety hazards. Traditionally, engineers are required to manually test programmable logic controller (PLC) industrial automation systems at the customer site, increasing time, cost, and potential risks.
On-site testing often reveals logical errors in PLC automation code, leading to:
For many companies, once an automation system is deployed, making improvements becomes difficult, costly, and risky.
SEW-EURODRIVE identified the need for a scalable and standardized solution that allows engineers to continuously test PLC logic in a realistic digital twin environment, ensuring a fully optimized and error-free system before deployment.
MOVIKIT® Custom SimInterface is a standardized virtual commissioning interface for industrial automation systems. It seamlessly integrates MOVI-C controllers with the Unity real-time 3D simulation platform, enabling accurate and dynamic control of digital twins in a virtual environment. This addresses the challenges of traditional commissioning solutions with a scalable and high-performance physics-based industrial simulation solution that significantly enhances engineering workflows.
This methodology also leads to improved code quality, as iterative testing can be performed in a risk-free digital twin environment, enabling continuous refinement and optimization without the constraints of real-world testing.
Beyond commissioning, digital twins provide additional value for training, testing, and sales, making them a versatile tool for operators, engineers, and customers alike. By leveraging Unity’s powerful ecosystem, it ensures that virtual commissioning is not only faster and safer but also more adaptable and scalable for the future of industrial automation.
Using Unity as a virtual commissioning tool becomes incredibly efficient and straightforward when combined with the realvirtual.io solution. The workflow typically begins by importing realvirtual.io from the Unity Asset Store into the Unity project. Once installed, the 3D CAD data of the machine is imported using Pixyz or loaded from the Unity Asset Manager, allowing engineers to bring in detailed CAD models and configure them directly within the Unity editor.
Often, CAD data provides only geometric and material information, while omitting the critical kinematic relationships required to accurately replicate model behavior in physics-based simulations. realvirtual.io addresses this limitation by providing specialized tools for defining kinematic relations outside of the CAD data structure while maintaining their logical consistency.
This means that users can visually establish mechanisms such as linkages, rotations, and constraints without altering the original CAD hierarchy.
More importantly, this approach retains the ability to update the CAD data when design changes occur, ensuring that any modifications in the original design can be easily integrated into the digital twin without losing established kinematic definitions.
Instead of manually defining physics, kinematics, or sensor behavior, realvirtual.io provides custom “digital twin” components that handle these tasks through a clear, user-friendly interface. Sensors such as light barriers, virtual drives, and other automation elements can be easily added and configured, eliminating the need for complex scripting. This streamlined process significantly reduces the complexity of setting up a digital twin while ensuring that both the geometric and kinematic aspects of the machine are accurately represented for realistic virtual commissioning.
Integrated into realvirtual.io, the interface offers a plug-and-play approach to virtual commissioning. Within MOVISUITE® IEC-Editor, the interface is automatically generated, enabling the controllers to connect to a digital twin with a single click using Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) communication. This eliminates complex setup procedures, allowing automation engineers to establish virtual commissioning environments in days rather than weeks.
Unity provides several unique advantages compared to traditional industrial simulation tools:
High-performance physics simulation – Powered by NVIDIA PhysX, Unity allows for accurate mechanical interactions, real-time collision detection, and realistic automation testing.
Leveraging the technology of Unity and realvirtual.io, SEW-EURODRIVE has created a standardized virtual commissioning approach and ecosystem where its MOVI-C® controller can interact with a fully simulated digital twin—allowing engineers to validate, optimize, and debug automation code and logic before deploying it on a real machine, leading to:
1. Faster and smoother commissioning
2. Higher code quality with continuous testing
3. Immediate financial gains through faster ROI
4. Zero risk of equipment damage
5. Expanding beyond commissioning: training & sales benefits
Looking ahead, virtual commissioning is evolving into a collaborative and interactive process. Unity’s multiuser functionalities, including VR and AR, enable remote presentations of automation concepts, allowing engineers and customers to experience digital twins from anywhere.
realvirtual.io is further advancing shared virtual commissioning by integrating Unity’s Multiuser SDK, enabling multiple engineers in different locations to work on the same virtual machine in real time. Adjustments to kinematics, sensor placement, and automation logic are instantly visible, ensuring seamless collaboration.
This approach eliminates geographical barriers, accelerates iteration cycles, and enhances innovation. By leveraging Unity’s real-time 3D capabilities and networking features, virtual commissioning becomes more connected, agile, and efficient—driving the next generation of industrial automation.
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