8,888 research outputs found
Agent and cyber-physical system based self-organizing and self-adaptive intelligent shopfloor
The increasing demand of customized production results in huge challenges to the traditional manufacturing systems. In order to allocate resources timely according to the production requirements and to reduce disturbances, a framework for the future intelligent shopfloor is proposed in this paper. The framework consists of three primary models, namely the model of smart machine agent, the self-organizing model, and the self-adaptive model. A cyber-physical system for manufacturing shopfloor based on the multiagent technology is developed to realize the above-mentioned function models. Gray relational analysis and the hierarchy conflict resolution methods were applied to achieve the self-organizing and self-adaptive capabilities, thereby improving the reconfigurability and responsiveness of the shopfloor. A prototype system is developed, which has the adequate flexibility and robustness to configure resources and to deal with disturbances effectively. This research provides a feasible method for designing an autonomous factory with exception-handling capabilities
Reconfigurable production control systems: beyond ADACOR
In the recent evolution of production control systems, the emergence of decentralized systems capable of dealing with the rapid changes in the production environment better than the traditional centralized architectures has been one of the most significant developments. The agent-based and holonic paradigms symbolize this approach, and ADACOR holonic control architecture is a successful example of such a system. In this paper, authors discusses the current challenges and the way to go in the direction of new, reconfigurable, evolvable and ubiquitous systems, able to respond to current production environment demands and variability
A knowledge based approach to integration of products, processes and reconfigurable automation resources
The success of next generation automotive companies will depend upon their ability to adapt to
ever changing market trends thus becoming highly responsive. In the automotive sector, the
assembly line design and reconfiguration is an especially critical and extremely complex job. The
current research addresses some of the aspects of this activity under the umbrella of a larger
ongoing research project called Business Driven Automation (BDA) project. The BDA project
aims to carry out complete virtual 3D modeling-based verifications of the assembly line for new
or revised products in contrast to the prevalent practice of manual evaluation of effects of product
change on physical resources. [Continues.
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Design of generic modular reconfigurable platforms (GMRPS) for a product-oriented micro manufacturing system
With the proposition of the concept of product-service systems, many manufacturers are focusing on selling services or functionality rather than products. Industrial production is shifting production models from mass production to mass customization and highly personalized needs. As a result, there is a tendency for manufacturing system suppliers to develop product-oriented systems to responsively cope with the dynamic fast moving competitive market. The key features of such a manufacturing system are the reconfigurability and adaptability, which can enable the system respond to the changeable needs of customers quickly and adaptively. Therefore, one of the challenges for the micro manufacturing system provider has been the design of a reconfigurable machine platform which will provide the functionalities and flexibility required by the product-oriented systems.
In this paper, a new micro manufacturing platform, i.e. a generic modular reconfigurable platform (GMRP) is proposed in order to provide an effective means for fabrication of high quality micro products at low cost in a responsive manner. The GMRP-based system aims to be a product-oriented reconfigurable, highly responsive manufacturing system particularly for high value nano/micro manufacturing purposes. To reuse components and decrease material consumption, GMRP is characterized by hybrid micro manufacturing processes, modularity of key components, and reconfigurability of machine platforms and key components. Furthermore, a practical methodology for the design of reconfigurable machine platforms is discussed against the requirements from product-driven micro manufacturing and its extension for adaptive production
Web service control of component-based agile manufacturing systems
Current global business competition has resulted in significant challenges for
manufacturing and production sectors focused on shorter product lifecyc1es, more diverse
and customized products as well as cost pressures from competitors and customers. To
remain competitive, manufacturers, particularly in automotive industry, require the next
generation of manufacturing paradigms supporting flexible and reconfigurable production
systems that allow quick system changeovers for various types of products. In addition,
closer integration of shop floor and business systems is required as indicated by the
research efforts in investigating "Agile and Collaborative Manufacturing Systems" in
supporting the production unit throughout the manufacturing lifecycles.
The integration of a business enterprise with its shop-floor and lifecycle supply partners
is currently only achieved through complex proprietary solutions due to differences in
technology, particularly between automation and business systems. The situation is
further complicated by the diverse types of automation control devices employed.
Recently, the emerging technology of Service Oriented Architecture's (SOA's) and Web
Services (WS) has been demonstrated and proved successful in linking business
applications. The adoption of this Web Services approach at the automation level, that
would enable a seamless integration of business enterprise and a shop-floor system, is an
active research topic within the automotive domain. If successful, reconfigurable
automation systems formed by a network of collaborative autonomous and open control
platform in distributed, loosely coupled manufacturing environment can be realized
through a unifying platform of WS interfaces for devices communication.
The adoption of SOA- Web Services on embedded automation devices can be achieved
employing Device Profile for Web Services (DPWS) protocols which encapsulate device
control functionality as provided services (e.g. device I/O operation, device state
notification, device discovery) and business application interfaces into physical control
components of machining automation. This novel approach supports the possibility of
integrating pervasive enterprise applications through unifying Web Services interfaces
and neutral Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) message communication between
control systems and business applications over standard Ethernet-Local Area Networks
(LAN's). In addition, the re-configurability of the automation system is enhanced via the
utilisation of Web Services throughout an automated control, build, installation, test,
maintenance and reuse system lifecycle via device self-discovery provided by the DPWS
protocol...cont'd
Skill-based reconfiguration of industrial mobile robots
Caused by a rising mass customisation and the high variety of equipment versions, the
exibility of manufacturing systems in car productions has to be increased. In addition to
a
exible handling of production load changes or hardware breakdowns that are established
research areas in literature, this thesis presents a skill-based recon guration mechanism
for industrial mobile robots to enhance functional recon gurability.
The proposed holonic multi-agent system is able to react to functional process changes
while missing functionalities are created by self-organisation. Applied to a mobile commissioning
system that is provided by AUDI AG, the suggested mechanism is validated
in a real-world environment including the on-line veri cation of the recon gured robot
functionality in a Validity Check.
The present thesis includes an original contribution in three aspects: First, a recon -
guration mechanism is presented that reacts in a self-organised way to functional process
changes. The application layer of a hardware system converts a semantic description into
functional requirements for a new robot skill. The result of this mechanism is the on-line
integration of a new functionality into the running process.
Second, the proposed system allows maintaining the productivity of the running process
and
exibly changing the robot hardware through provision of a hardware-abstraction
layer. An encapsulated Recon guration Holon dynamically includes the actual con guration
each time a recon guration is started. This allows reacting to changed environment
settings. As the resulting agent that contains the new functionality, is identical in shape
and behaviour to the existing skills, its integration into the running process is conducted
without a considerable loss of productivity.
Third, the suggested mechanism is composed of a novel agent design that allows implementing
self-organisation during the encapsulated recon guration and dependability
for standard process executions. The selective assignment of behaviour-based and cognitive
agents is the basis for the
exibility and e ectiveness of the proposed recon guration
mechanism
Adaptation of Manufacturing Systems in Dynamic Environment Based on Capability Description Method
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