Development and implementation of a reconfigurable assembly cell

Abstract

As product diversity increases and new designs succeed one another more rapidly than ever before, the value of recon- figurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) cannot be denied. Though the idea of RMSs exists already for a very long time [1], few of such systems have actually been developed. This abstract addresses the development and deployment of such a system, paying special attention to the key aspects of RMSs: modularity, scalability and integrability. The de- veloped RMS, presented in Figure 1, consists of two AGVs collecting orders at the movable work stations. A modular ceiling camera system posts position measurements on the network, allowing the AGVs to plan their path and dock near the right work station. On top of this, a central coordinator gathers tasks and dispatches them to the appropriate agent. The next sections briefly describe the different subsystems.status: publishe