A digital twin application for the machining cell with shuttle-based automated storage and retrieval systems

As industrial automation advances, the integration of storage and material handling systems becomes essential for achieving seamless material flow. This study proposes a digital twin (DT) implementation for a material handling flow that combines a shuttle-based automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) with autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). The P4R asset description was extended to represent the properties and behaviours of the shuttle-based AS/RS, as well as their interaction with AMR-based material handling flows. Based on this structure, a DT was developed to replicate the complete material handling operations and to verify the consistency and applicability of the proposed asset description. This approach enables structured and synchronised modelling of shuttle-based AS/RS and AMR operations, integrating their material handling processes within a unified asset description and DT for machining cells.