Bosch Rexroth says it is opening up its mobile electronics software, BODAS, to all manufacturers and partners as part of a move to help OEMs speed up the launch of new machines and functions.

The company plans to offer manufacturers of off-highway machines free access to the entire standard portfolio of BODAS software for controlling mobile machines, with the company set to highlight this at the upcoming Bauma 2022 event in Munich, Germany, in October. Via the digital myBODAS platform, OEMs can download validated software packages for a range of applications, free of charge, in order to test them and adapt them to suit their own requirements.

Proven modules within the platform minimise the time, investment risks and costs involved, with the service only billed via a payment model based on credits if the software is used during series production. This makes it easy to use, flexible and transparent, Bosch Rexroth says.

“Whether it be hydraulic control, automation, connectivity or electrification – software plays a central role in the highly dynamic off-highway market,” the company says. “In order to achieve success with their mobile machines, OEMs must reduce the development time in a cost-effective manner while reducing functional and financial risks.”

Following registration and confirmation of the terms and conditions of use, the individual modules in the BODAS application software (AS), such as the eDA for the drivetrain, are then available. The modules are developed in accordance with current standards and already meet functional safety requirements, the company says. As a result, Bosch Rexroth helps manufacturers of any size to cope with increasing complexity in vehicle development, to compensate for a lack of know-how or resources and to update or expand their offering more quickly, it added.

“This way, the OEMs’ software developers can concentrate on selected customer values and speed up the launch of new functions and machines,” the company said. “They can also scale their own offering more quickly with software modules validated for Rexroth hardware.”

The open ecosystem of BODAS is being expanded all the time with standardised, extensively documented modules. myBODAS, thus, offers a toolkit for various control tasks involving mobile machines which is always up to date, the company explains. The growing need for automation solutions and the rapidly increasing number of assistance functions such as payload estimation, position sensing or surround sensing also make the system an attractive proposition.

Related to this, the company will present an integrated portfolio for the needs-based automation of off-highway machines, such as excavators, wheel loaders and telehandlers, at Bauma 2022.

The assistance functions cover advanced sensor systems and intuitive operating devices, including driver assistance functions for more efficient working and even virtual walls and emergency braking assistants for greater work safety. Ready-to-use software modules help to reduce the integration time into existing and future vehicle architectures and speed up their market launch, the company says. And, as a hardware platform for higher automation levels, Bosch Rexroth will announce a microprocessor-based, ROS2-compatible robotic control unit.

The automation portfolio presented at Bauma 2022 will be based on the BODAS platform for hardware, software and telematics.

The current range of assistance functions for productive and safe working processes includes easier levelling, load capacity measurement during handling operations, electronic vibration damping and various motion control systems for wheel loaders and telehandlers. Virtual walls and virtual rotary limiting systems protect the immediate surroundings by preventing the machine from accidentally leaving the safe working area. A number of functions can be adapted for other sectors, for example for tractor front loaders.

A ground-breaking HMI concept provides an intuitive user experience, the company says. This is based on ergonomic Sense+ joysticks with multi-dimensional optical and haptic feedback as well as high-resolution, high-contrast and glove-operable BODAS displays with easy-to-record visualisations for the relevant assistance functions.

The BODAS ecosystem also includes telematic modules for remote updates over the air, software remote maintenance and interfaces for transferring the wide range of operating data generated by the automation functions to ERP systems and their digital processes.

The new sensor systems for ultrasound, radar and inertial measuring systems form the basis for numerous other automation functions by recognising objects in the surroundings and recording the position of the kinematic systems with respect to each other via acceleration. There are plans to add extra functions and sensors such as LiDAR on a step-by-step basis, the company says.

For object recognition and terrain mapping, Bosch Rexroth is working with Bosch to develop a ROS2-compatible perception stack. On this basis, Bosch Rexroth plans to offer complete function packages in the future – from sensor integration and object recognition to machine intervention.

The new control platform is currently being developed, with prototypes for pilot projects available from the middle of 2023.