Virtualized cable modeling for manufacturing resource simulation

A system for simulating a manufacturing resource including a cable, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory with computer code instructions stored thereon, the processor and the memory, with the computer code instructions, being configured to cause the system to:
• create in computer memory a polyline model of a cable, the created model comprising a collection of points representing the cable;
• for each point of the collection of points:
• associate a point mass to the point;
• associate a zero mass sphere to the point, geometry of the zero mass sphere corresponding to a dimension of the cable at a location represented by the zero mass sphere;
• and
• assign an elasticity and torsional stiffness between the point and adjacent points;
• define position and orientation of a start point and an end point of the collection of points representing the cable based upon position in three dimensional space of a manufacturing resource at an end of a time step;
• and
• perform a simulation of the cable for the time step by:
• computing forces on each point of the collection of points using:
• (i) the associated point mass, (ii) the associated zero mass sphere, (iii) the assigned elasticity and torsional stiffness between the point and adjacent points, and (iv) the defined position and orientation of the start point and the end point of the collection of points;
• and
• determining position in three dimensional space of each point of the collection of points representing the cable at the end of the time step based on the computed forces.

A non-transitory computer program product for simulating a manufacturing resource including a cable, the computer program product executed by a server in communication across a network with one or more client and comprising:

• a computer readable medium, the computer readable medium comprising program instructions, which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:
• create in computer memory a polyline model of a cable, the created model comprising a collection of points representing the cable;
• for each point of the collection of points:
• associate a point mass to the point;
• associate a zero mass sphere to the point, geometry of the zero mass sphere corresponding to a dimension of the cable at a location represented by the zero mass sphere;
• and
• assign an elasticity and torsional stiffness between the point and adjacent points;
• define position and orientation of a start point and an end point of the collection of points representing the cable based upon position in three dimensional space of a manufacturing resource at an end of a time step;
• and
• perform a simulation of the cable for the time step by:
• computing forces on each point of the collection of points using:
• (i) the associated point mass, (ii) the associated zero mass sphere, (iii) the assigned elasticity and torsional stiffness between the point and adjacent points, and (iv) the defined position and orientation of the start point and the end point of the collection of points;
• and
• determining position in three dimensional space of each point of the collection of points representing the cable at the end of the time step based on the computed forces.