VDMA OPC Robotics initiative: making industrial robots ready for digital production

Part 1.02 of the OPC UA Robotics Companion Specification released; standardisation of the interface for Industrial Robots enables seamless communication.

Frankfurt, October 23, 2025 – Industrial robots are the central components of digital and networked production. This makes it important for them to be able to communicate with each other and other subsystems without any problems – regardless of the manufacturer. The VDMA OPC Robotics Initiative has now taken a major step in this direction. “Version 1.02 of the OPC Robotics Companion Specification adds new features that allow an OPC UA client to do high-level control of robots, like loading programs and starting and stopping production. A set of state machines has also been added, allowing a client to monitor the execution-state both at the system-level and at the individual task-level. “The working group has put a lot of effort into the making of this update, and I believe we are on a good path for further extensions to the Robotics information model,” says Øyvind Landsnes, R&D Senior Principal Engineer at ABB and member of the Core Working Group.

The OPC UA Robotics companion specification – in a nutshell

Part 1 of the companion specification addresses primarily the three important use-cases, namely Asset Management, Condition Monitoring and Remote Operation. The OPC Robotics information model provides vendor independent access to asset information of all integrated robot systems and their components. It also provides a comparison of the statuses and parameters over many installed systems which allows for the identification of anomalies. OPC Robotics stands for a complete motion device system that includes a list of motion devices. Motion devices can be any existing robot type or even a future robot type, yet to be conceived. With the latest 1.02 update, remote operation of a robot system has now been enabled. This makes it possible to start, stop the robot system, load and unload robot programs on to the robot system with the help of state machines designed for this purpose.

VDMA OPC Robotics initiative – defining a standardised generic interface

In February 2017, the VDMA OPC Robotics initiative kicked off the development of the OPC UA Robotics Companion specifications. OPC UA is not a communication protocol, but rather a communication technology. It is based on a service-oriented architecture and a server-client model. The added value lies in the development of a sector-specific information model for robotics, also referred to as a "Companion Specification". The access and administration of data was identified as the basis for future business models.

Before OPC Robotics there was no unified interface standard for robots. Users want one common standard for vendor independent access for information and more data should be usable in cloud applications as well as in high level manufacturing systems. Approximately 35 companies have been involved in the total working group, within which 14 companies formed the core working group for the creation of the information model. The updated Part 1.02 is now available for download at the OPC Foundation Website as well as on the VDMA Website.

Stefan Hoppe, President and Executive Director of the OPC Foundation comments: “Industrial robots are no longer isolated systems, they are becoming intelligent, fully integrated assets within the digital factory. Thanks to OPC UA, robots can now speak the same language as the rest of the automation world. This achievement by the VDMA OPC Robotics Initiative is not only a milestone for Industrie 4.0, but also a key enabler for the broader vision of digitalisation, from the shop floor to the cloud, into data spaces, and initiatives like Manufacturing-X or Catena-X. OPC UA provides the common modelling language and serves as the foundation for secure, interoperable information exchange across all layers of industrial and digital ecosystems.”