Real-Time Big Data Pipelines for Industrial Robot Digital Twins: An OMPL Benchmarking Framework
Metin Yılmaz, Cem Suha Yılmaz, Serhat Kahraman, Uğur YayanThe seamless integration of real-time operational technology (OT) with big data architectures remains a critical bottleneck in developing robust robotic Digital Twins. Furthermore, evaluating stochastic motion planners strictly within pristine simulations obscures vital real-world challenges such as sensor noise, communication latency, and mechanical stress. This study presents a high-throughput, real-time Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) pipeline integrating ROS 2, Apache Kafka, and Functional Mock-up Units (FMUs). Using a UR10e manipulator in a constrained industrial environment, we conducted extensive physical benchmarking of 11 Open Motion Planning Library (OMPL) algorithms across 10 repetitions, generating a comprehensive dataset of 785,192 samples. The proposed IT/OT architecture achieved deterministic millisecond-level synchronization, bounding end-to-end communication latency between 0.09 and 15.51 ms. Physical executions revealed a macroscopic “topological divergence” between simulation and reality, with spatial deviations peaking at 457.65 mm due to real-world point-cloud noise. While algorithms like EST and KPIECE demonstrated optimal geometric efficiency (e.g., a mean path length of 14.57 m) and hardware-friendly dynamics, traditional planners like RRT generated severe inertial spikes of up to 100 N, demonstrating substantial unsuitability for continuous industrial deployment. The primary contribution is a methodologically novel, rigorously validated big data pipeline and the release of an open-source, 50 Hz multimodal dataset (spatial, temporal, and dynamic forces), bridging the sim-to-real gap and providing a foundational benchmark for future data-driven robotic applications.