CREDIT: ROCKWELL AUTOMATION
Rockwell Automation, Inc., dedicated to industrial automation and digital transformation, debuted its new Emulate3D Factory Test capabilities at NVIDIA GTC 2025. This first public showcase demonstrated how the solution enables factory-scale virtual controls testing, helping manufacturers conduct factory acceptance testing to validate automation systems before deployment. Factory Test, integrated with NVIDIA Omniverse APIs and OpenUSD, offers digital twin technology with high-fidelity simulation and real-time collaboration.
“Manufacturers need scalable, high-fidelity digital twins to optimize system performance and accelerate commissioning times,” says Matheus Bulho, senior vice president, software and control, Rockwell Automation. “With the launch of Emulate3D Factory Test, we’re providing a solution that allows engineering teams to test, iterate, and validate automation systems at full factory scale – leveraging the power of NVIDIA Omniverse to deliver unprecedented visualization and collaboration capabilities.”
Factories are inherently complex environments, with thousands of moving parts, high-speed machinery, and intricate system interactions. Traditional simulation tools often struggle to model these environments with sufficient fidelity and scale. Factory Test overcomes these challenges with a modular modeling approach, enabling teams to build, verify, and combine mechanical, electrical, controls, process, robotics, and device behavior models into a unified digital twin.
At launch, Emulate3D Factory Test introduces key capabilities, including:
- Multi-model orchestration – Synchronizing multiple system models for factory-scale testing
- Modern DevOps workflows – Streamlining version control, testing, and deployment while allowing all stakeholders to work from the latest version, track changes in real time, and maintain alignment across teams
- Test Runner – Enabling repeatable, automated testing at scale
- Fault Framework – Simulating fault conditions to assess system resilience
- Advanced full-factory visualization – Powered by NVIDIA Omniverse APIs, initially available via private preview
“NVIDIA Omniverse and OpenUSD are redefining how industries use AI-driven simulation to optimize design and operations,” says Brian Harrison, senior director of Omniverse Digital Twins at NVIDIA. “With Emulate3D Factory Test, Rockwell Automation is integrating Omniverse technologies and OpenUSD to bring next-generation digital twins to the industrial sector, helping teams simulate, validate, and optimize complex manufacturing systems at an unprecedented scale.”
This announcement builds upon Rockwell’s November 2024 announcement, which introduced the collaboration with NVIDIA to bring AI and physics-based simulation to industrial automation. The introduction of Factory Test represents another milestone in the journey toward more intelligent, autonomous operations.