Behavioural validation of the ADACOR2 Self-organized holonic multi-agent manufacturing system

Global economy is driving manufacturing companies into a paradigm revolution. Highly customizable products at lower prices and with higher quality are among the most imposed influence factors. To respond properly to these external and internal constraints, such as work absence and machine failures, companies must be in a constant adaptation phase. Several manufacturing control architectures have been proposed throughout the years displaying more or less success to adapt into different manufacturing situations. These architectures follow different design paradigms but recently the decentralization and distribution of the processing power into a set of cooperating and collaborative entities is becoming the trend. Despite of the effort spent, there is still the need to empower those architectures with evolutionary capabilities and self-organization mechanisms to enable the constant adaption to disturbances. This paper presents a behavioural mechanism embed in the ADACOR2 holons. A validation procedure for this mechanism is also presented and results extracted. This validation is achieved through the use of a benchmark and results are compared with classical hierarchical and heterarchical architectures as also with the ADACOR.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Design of a self-learning multi-agent framework for the adaptation of modular production systems

YesThis paper presents the design of a multi-agent framework that aids engineers in the adaptation of modular production systems. The framework includes general implementations of agents and other software components for self-learning and adaptation, sensor data analysis, system modelling and simulation, as well as human-computer interaction. During an adaptation process, operators make changes to the production system, in order to increase capacity or manufacture a product variant. These changes are automatically captured and evaluated by the framework, building an experience base of adjustments that is then used to infer adaptation knowledge. The architecture of the framework consists of agents divided in two layers: the agents in the lower layer are associated with individual production modules, whereas the agents in the higher layer are associated with the entire production line. Modelling, learning, and adaptations can be performed at both levels, using a semantic model to specify the structure and capabilities of the production system. An evaluation of a prototype implementation has been conducted on an industrial assembly system. The results indicate that the use of the framework in a typical adaptation process provides a significant reduction in time and resources required.This work was supported in part by the European Commission [grant agreement n. 314762]

Crowdsourcing Coordination: A Review and Research Agenda for Crowdsourcing Coordination Used for Macro-tasks

Crowdsourcing has become a widely accepted approach to leveraging the skills and expertise of others to accomplish work. Despite the potential of crowdsourcing to tackle complex problems, it has often been used to address simple micro-tasks. To tackle more complex macro-tasks, more attention is needed to better comprehend crowd coordination. Crowd coordination is defined as the synchronization of crowd workers in an attempt to direct and align their efforts in pursuit of a shared goal. The goal of this chapter is to advance our understanding of crowd coordination to tackle complex macro-tasks. To accomplish this, we have three objectives. First, we review popular theories of coordination. Second, we examine the current approaches to crowd coordination in the HCI and CSCW literature. Finally, the chapter identifies shortcomings in the literature and proposes a research agenda directed at advancing our understanding of crowd coordination needed to address complex macro-tasks.National Science Foundation grant CHS-1617820Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150620/1/Kim and Robert 2019 Preprint Chapter 2.pdfDescription of Kim and Robert 2019 Preprint Chapter 2.pdf : Preprint Versio

Design of holonic manufacturing systems

The introduction of CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) systems in the 1980s, aiming at integrating automatic workstations into fully automated factories, was not successful. The root causes of this failure were that the subsystems to be integrated were not suitably designed for easy integration into a larger system. This situation stimulated the authors to embark on a research programme on ‘design for the unexpected’. It defined how subsystems have to be designed so that integration into larger systems becomes easier and how such an integrated system can be controlled so that it can cope with change and disturbances. In the paper, the design principles and salient features of holonic manufacturing systems (HMS) are outlined. The PROSA reference architecture, defining the basic structure of any HMS, is described. It is further explained how coordination and control of the HMS is achieved by a holonic manufacturing execution system (HMES), based on the combination of the PROSA reference architecture and a biologically inspired Delegate Multiagent System (DMAS). Finally, the power and universality of the PROSA/DMAS system is demonstrated by some case studies from manufacturing, robotics and open air engineering

Benchmarking the performance of manufacturing control systems: design principles for a web-based simulated testbed

The paper reports the main research activities currently carried out for designing and developing a test-bench service. This service would act as the main reference point for establishing benchmarks on which research results can be compared. These benchmarks will be made available through web technology. The paper, after a first outline of the main features of the project and its overall vision, is particularly focused both on the design principles related to the construction of good benchmark cases and on the technological issues related to the provision of a web-based simulation environment for supporting interactivity between remote scheduling and control systems and a locally resident simulation system

Auton Agent Multi-Agent Syst (2007) 14:61–85 DOI 10.1007/s10458-006-9002-5 Applications and environments for multi-agent systems

Abstract This paper addresses multi agent system (MAS) environments from an application perspective. It presents a structured view on environment-centric MAS applications. This comprises three base configurations, which MAS applications may apply directly or combine into a composite configuration. For each configuration, the paper presents key issues, requirements and opportunities (e.g. time management issues, real-world augmentation opportunities and state snapshot requirements). Thus, the paper delineates what environment technology may implement to serve MAS applications. Sample applications illustrate the configurations. Next, electronic institutions provide an example of an environment technology, addressing norms and laws in an agent society, already achieving some maturity. In comparison, applicationdomain specific environment technologies still are in embryonic stages. Keywords Environments for multi-agent systems · Multi-agent system · Multi-agent applications