n TECHNOLOGY February 2026 www.drivesncontrols.com 16 SIEMENS HAS ANNOUNCED A software product that builds industrial metaverse environments, helping organisations to apply industrial AI, simulation and real-time physical data to make decisions virtually, at speed and at scale. The Digital Twin Composer allows industrial users to combine 2D and 3D digital twin data with physical real-time information to create photorealistic real-time scenes. They can build and maintain these environments rapidly, containing all aspects of their product or production data (both virtual and physical) in a secure, managed 3D experience, throughout the lifecycle of the product, process or facility. The software provides real-time insights and intelligence, allowing users to visualise, interact with, and iterate on, any product, process or factory in its real-world context before starting physical design or construction. One pilot user, PepsiCo, is using the software to transform some of its US manufacturing and warehouse sites by converting them into high-fidelity 3D digital twins that simulate the plant’s operations and supply chains to establish a performance baseline. Within weeks, PepsiCo’s teams were able to optimise and validate new configurations to boost capacity and throughput, giving the company a unified, real-time view of its operations with flexibility to integrate AI-driven capabilities over time. PepsiCo can now recreate every machine, conveyor, pallet route and operator path with physics-level accuracy, allowing AI agents to simulate, test and refine system changes. It can now identify up to 90% of potential issues before any physical modifications occur. This has already resulted in a 20% increase in throughput for PepsiCo’s initial deployment, and is driving faster design cycles, almost complete design validation, and 10–15% reductions in capital expenditure, by uncovering hidden capacity and validating investments virtually. Siemens says that the Digital Twin Composer will reduce barriers that result from design, engineering and production teams working independently, and relying on different tools and disconnected data systems. The software combines design, simulation and operations in a single model that engineers can use to test products, processes and facilities within minutes, validate automation long before hardware exists, and operate products or facilities from the digital twin. “The new Digital Twin Composer delivers on our vision for the industrial metaverse,” says Joe Bohman, executive vice-president of PLM Products at Siemens Digital Industries Software. “It helps manufacturers to overcome the unprecedented challenges of mastering complexity, accelerating production, reducing costs and increasing profitability. Siemens and Nvidia are partnering to help manufacturers bring the most complex products, processes and factories online faster, boost resiliency and sustainability, and continuously optimize performance.” “In an era where every physical object and process will have a digital twin, Siemens' Digital Twin Composer establishes a digital thread that connects the silos of design, engineering and operations across the Siemens Xcelerator ecosystem,” adds Rev Lebaredian, vicepresident of Omniverse and Simulation Technology at Nvidia. “Enterprises can take advantage of physically accurate simulation across their workflows to validate their entire lifecycle – from product design to factory logistics – in the virtual world before committing a single atom to the real one.” OMRON ROBOTICS AND SAFETY TECHNOLOGIES HAS expanded its TM S series of cobots (collaborative robots) with three new models. It has also issued a major software update to support manufacturers facing labour shortages, and experiencing increasing demands for flexible, high-mix production. The new cobots extend the series’ payload and reach capabilities. They are: n the TM30S, a 30kg payload version for heavy-duty collaborative tasks such as palletising and machine-tending; n the TM20S, a 20kg payload cobot with an extended reach for mid-to-high payload operations; and n the TM6S, a long-reach, 6kg-payload model, optimised for precision handling, welding and integration with mobile robots. Across the S series, Omron has introduced upgrades to increase durability and allow faster redeployment. All of the robot arms now have an IP65 rating for use in washdown or dust-prone environments. Higher-payload models now incorporate a force-torque wrist sensor for improved control of force. The updated no-code programming software (TMflow 2.22) adds more granular safety configuration, expanded remote monitoring and diagnostics, and a more accurate simulation engine. Its built-in vision tools have been strengthened to support inspection and pick-and-place tasks with higher accuracy. https://robotics.omron.com/products/ collaborative-robots/tms-series Omron launches high-payload cobots and a software upgrade Digital twin software ‘brings the industrial metaverse to life’ Siemens’ Digital Twin Composer will allow users to apply industrial AI, simulation and real-time physical data to make decisions virtually, at speed and at scale Omron’s new 30kg-payload cobot is aimed at applications such as palletising
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