Open manufacturing control with agile reconfiguring of resource services

Abstract

The paper describes a new, open control paradigm and implementing solution for discrete, repetitive shop floor production, designed as a frame for agile manufacturing reengineering through (a) multi-agent resource service reconfiguring and (b) implementing the robot service access model (RSAM) in a distributed, semi-heterarchical production planning, scheduling and execution control architecture. This distributed architecture integrates two layers with generic functionalities: (1) Dynamic reconfiguring of the resource (robots, vision systems, CNC machine tools) service access model RSAM through a multi-agent system organization; (2) Holonic manufacturing scheduling (planning, resource allocation), control and tracking based on the PROSA frame and the Intelligent Product technology-implemented through intelligent embedded devices (acting as Active Holon Entities) which use OpenEmbedded Linux as real-time operating system. Experimental results are reported from production scenarios tested in the two shop-floor platforms of the Laboratories AIP-PRIMECA (University of Valenciennes) and CIMR (University Politehnica of Bucharest) composed by robot-vision and machine tool workstations.