Holonic robot system: a flexible assembly system with high reconfigurability

Abstract

This paper proposes a flexible assembly system that manages production by negotiating with autonomous manufacturing devices. With this mechanism, physical layout of the system is independent of the type of products to be assembled, and the system can asynchronously process multiple parallel production tasks. This system also supports plug and produce: a system function that enables easy reconfiguration. Thus, the system can be quickly accommodated to breakdowns and changes in production quantities. This paper also deals with an index for general evaluation of the manufacturing systems. With this index, we can plan appropriate improvement of the system layouts. Then we reconfigure the system using plug and produce function, in order to accommodate it to the changes in the manufacturing environments.