AN ADAPTIVE DECISION MAKING METHODOLOGY FOR MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENT IN A COMPUTER INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING SYSTEM (CIMS, ROBOT, OPERATIONAL)

The design and operation of a robotic manufacturing system can be a complex task for which little experience is now available. This research has attempted to develop an operational control strategy for a computer integrated system with robots and other automated material handling equipment. The control strategy requires the integration of several software tools such as simulation, optimization, data base, pattern recognition, and robot control system. The integration has been developed in two levels which have different functions.; The first level will construct a model system which can support the control information for the real system operation. The basic components in this level consists of simulation, optimization, and a data base. Simulation was used as a flexible means to describe the large complex system. An Optimization algorithm helps such a simulation model to make good choices for control parameters. The data base was used to handle the extensive information.; The second level will control the hardware by using the information from the first level. The system control parameters can be updated on a periodic basis to account for the current shop load and pending orders. A nearest neighbor pattern recognition algorithm has been applied to retrieve the optimal control parameters.; The developed control strategy has shown significant improvement in some non-fixed input rate cases. The implementation of the strategy was validated through an on-line real time computer controlled robot.