| 1. |
- Bennulf, Mattias, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
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A conceptual model for multi-agent communication applied on a plug & produce system
- 2020
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Ingår i: Procedia CIRP. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-8271 .- 2212-8271. ; 93, s. 347-352
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Today, multi-agent systems are still uncommon in the industry because they require more time to be implemented than traditional manufacturing systems. In this paper, a conceptual model and guidelines are defined for communication and negotiation between agents for Plug & Produce systems. Standards for agent communication exists today, such as the FIPA collection of specifications. However, FIPA is a broad and general standard for any kind of system and leaves a lot of room for interpretation. This paper presents a new conceptual model and guidelines on how to simplify the implementation phase by limiting the choices an engineer must make when implementing a multi-agent system for a manufacturing system. © 2020 The Authors.
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| 2. |
- Bennulf, Mattias, 1992-
(författare)
-
A Control Framework for Industrial Plug & Produce
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Kundanpassade produkter och korta produktionsserier blir alltmer populärt. Detta har lett till problem för dedikerade tillverkningssystem som är designade för massproduktion. Det krävs ofta långa produktionsserier för att det ska bli en rimlig investering att ställa om produktionen. Därför används människor för tillverkningsuppgifter som ofta ställs om. Denna avhandling fokuserar på konceptet Plug & Produce, som gör det enklare att flytta, lägga till och ta bort resurser från ett tillverkningssystem. Tanken är att resurser placeras i processmoduler som alla har samma fysiska gränssnitt för att kopplas in i tillverkningssystemet. Styrningen av tillverkningssystemet görs av ett multiagentsystem där varje detalj som ska produceras för produkter får en egen agent som representerar detaljen och agerar som styrningsmjukvara. Varje detaljs agent tar hand on sina egna tillverkningsmål genom att kommunicera med resursagenter i systemet som används för styrning av resurserna. I detta arbete, presenteras ett ramverk för Plug & Produce som består av ett konfigurerbart multiagentsystem, samt ett konfigurationsverktyg som kan användas för att definiera agenterna. Arbetet inkluderar metoder för att identifiera inkopplade resurser, kommunikation mellan agenter, schemaläggning som kan undvika konflikter mellan agenter, samt metoder för att automatiskt hitta vägar för transport genom tillverkningssystemet.
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| 3. |
- Bennulf, Mattias, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
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A Method for Configuring Agents in Plug & Produce Systems
- 2022
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Ingår i: SPS2022. - : IOS Press. - 9781643682686 - 9781643682693 ; , s. 135-146
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Multi-agent technology, used for implementing Plug & Produce systems have many proposed benefits for fast adaption of manufacturing systems. However, still today multi-agent technology is not ready for the industry, due to the lack of mature supporting tools and guidelines. The result is that today, multi-agent systems are more complicated and time-consuming to use than traditional approaches. This hides their true benefits. In this paper, a new method for configuring agents is presented that includes automated deployment to manufacturing systems and by its flexible design opens the possibility to connect many other supporting tools when needed. A configuration tool is also designed that works with the proposed method by connecting to an agent configuration database. The overall aim of the method is to simplify the steps taken for adapting a manufacturing system for new parts and resources.
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| 4. |
- Bennulf, Mattias, 1992-
(författare)
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A User-Friendly Approach for Applying Multi-Agent Technology in Plug & Produce Systems
- 2020
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis presents methods for simplifying the use of multi-agent systems in Plug & Produce. The demand for customized products and low volume production is constantly increasing. The industry has for many years used dedicated manufacturing systems where it is difficult and expensive to adapt to new product designs. Instead, factories are forced to use human workers for certain tasks that demand high flexibility and rapid adaption for new product designs. Several solutions have been proposed over the years to create highly flexible automation systems that automatically handles rapid adaption for new products. A concept called Plug & Produce aims at creating a system where resources and parts can be added in minutes rather than days in dedicated systems. One promising solution for implementing Plug & Produce is the distributed approach called multi-agent systems, where each resource and part get its own controller that communicates with each other to reach manufacturing goals. The idea is that the system automatically handles the adaption for new products. However, still today the use of such systems is extremely limited in the industry. One reason is the lack of mature multi-agent systems that are easy to use and that hides the complexity of the underlying agent system from the users. This is a huge problem since these systems tend to be more complex than traditional approaches. Thus, this thesis focuses on simplifying the use of multi-agent systems by proposing various methods for bringing the multi-agent technology for Plug & Produce closer to the industry.
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| 5. |
- Bennulf, Mattias, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
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Goal-Oriented Process Plans in a Multiagent System for Plug & Produce
- 2021
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Ingår i: IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 1941-0050 .- 1551-3203. ; 17:4, s. 2411-2421
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article presents a framework for Plug & Produce that makes it possible to use configurations rather than programming to adapt a manufacturing system for new resources and parts. This is solved by defining skills on resources, and goals for parts. To reach these goals, process plans are defined with a sequence of skills to be utilized without specifying specific resources. This makes it possible to separate the physical world from the process plans. When a process plan requires a skill, e.g., grip with a gripper resource, then that skill may require further skills, e.g., move with a robot resource. This creates a tree of connected resources that are not defined in the process plan. Physical and logical compatibility between resources in this tree is checked by comparing several parameters defined on the resources and the part. This article presents an algorithm together with a multiagent system framework that handles the search and matching required for selecting the correct resources.
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| 6. |
- Bennulf, Mattias, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
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Identification of resources and parts in a Plug and Produce system using OPC UA
- 2019
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Ingår i: Procedia Manufacturing. - : Elsevier BV. - 2351-9789. ; 38, s. 858-865
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper describes a method together with an implementation for automating the detection, identification and configuration of newly added resources and parts in a Plug and Produce system using OPC UA. In a Plug and Produce system, resources and parts are usually controlled by agents, forming a multi-agent system of collaborating resources. Hence, when a resource or part is connected to the system, a corresponding agent must be instantiated and associated with that specific device. In order to automate this, the system needs information about newly connected devices. This information could, for example, be positional data describing where the device is connected. Some devices like tools and parts to be processed have no own network connection, but still, they should get an agent with correct configuration instantiated. In this work, OPC UA is used for communication between devices and the corresponding agents. All agents and their communication are handled by an Agent Handling System, consisting of an OPC UA HUB together with functions for device detection and agent instantiation. The HUB is used for transferring data between devices and their agents in the network by OPC UA protocols. When a device is connected to the network, it is detected, and a connection is automatically created to the HUB that becomes configured for transmitting data between the device and its corresponding agent. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
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| 7. |
- Bennulf, Mattias, 1992-, et al.
(författare)
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Verification and deployment of automatically generated robot programs used in prefabrication of house walls
- 2018
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Ingår i: Procedia CIRP. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-8271 .- 2212-8271. ; 72, s. 272-276
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents a method for automating the generation, verification and deployment of robot programs used in prefabrication of walls for family houses. The making of robot programs is today performed manually by experts, i.e. implying high costs. This is a huge disadvantage since each wall can be unique. The work demonstrates, with implementation and testing, a method to automate the generation of robot programs for fabrication of walls made of wood. This includes the task of generating collision free paths, automatic verification of path performance and deploying to a real industrial robot with minimal human interaction. © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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| 8. |
- Bolmsjö, Gunnar, 1955-, et al.
(författare)
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Collaborative Robots to Support Flexible Operation in a Manufacturing System
- 2012
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Ingår i: Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing, FAIM 2012. - Tampere, Finland : Tampere University. - 9789521527838 - 9789521527845 ; , s. 531-538
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Collaborative robotic systems where human(s) and robot(s) cooperate in performing a common task is an attractive solution to introduce automation combined with high flexibility for tasks that have a high complexity and characterized by low volume or down to one-off. By introducing collaboration in robotics systems, the operator can complement with cognitive capacity and skill in order to gain in flexibility and agility in the task operation. This paper describes on-going work related to work on collaboration between operator and robot. User scenarios are outlined together with methods, software components and hardware to support collaboration, where some of these are under development. As the standards related to collaborative robotic systems are soon to be completed, it is expected that this type of semi-automatic systems will be important for flexible and agile automation of production which otherwise cannot be automated.
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| 9. |
- Carlsson, Henrik, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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A General Virtual Manufacturing Concept for Programming, Verification and Optimisation of Complex Control Functions
- 2008
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing, FAIM 2008: June 30th - July 2nd, 2008, University of Skövde, Sweden. - Skövde. - 9789163327575 ; , s. 668-675
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper describes a general virtual manufacturing concept for industrial control systems. Our virtual manufacturing concept provides a distinct advantage; programming, verification and optimisation of complex real-time dependent control functions described by real control code, which can be directly transferred to the real manufacturing system. To achieve this distinct advantage, a time synchronised virtual manufacturing system is a necessity. The aim of this paper is thus to present and to describe in detail, our proposed virtual manufacturing concept. To the authors’ knowledge no such general virtual manufacturing concept, i.e. one that can correctly handle complex real-time dependent control functions, currently exists. To summarise previous work related to virtual manufacturing and industrial control systems, several critical issues have been identified. The virtual manufacturing concept proposed in this paper addresses these issues. To verify that our concept can manage these critical issues found and further is suitable in industrial applications a virtual manufacturing test case is also presented. The test case, that includes motion control (i.e. servo), complex control functions, real control systems etc., was carried out with success.
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| 10. |
- Carlsson, Henrik, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Automated Generation of Discrete Event System Simulation Models for Flexible Automation
- 2011
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Ingår i: The 21st International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing. - 9789868729100 ; , s. 825-832, s. 825-832
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Flexible automation cells with rapid product changes are an important competitive advantage for industries today. These cells can increase a company’s productivity and thereby increase their profits. A flexible cell shall be able to handle different products with none or minimal changes to the cell itself. A powerful tool, which can be used to analyse and verify such cells, is discrete event system simulation. Problems such as potential bottlenecks, deadlocks, answers to "what-if" questions and the level of resource utilisation can be gathered. The drawback of discrete event system simulation is that the modelling task is both time consuming and difficult to accomplish. Furthermore, state-of-the-art discrete event system simulation tools that are used in the industry today are not suitable for flexible automation. If the production scenario is changed, e.g. introduction of a new product, the simulation and modelling has to be redone and this is both time consuming and tedious. In this paper a new approach will be presented that enables discrete event simulation models to be generated automatically. The models are generated from information retrieved from a PLM/PDM database system, which is shared among other engineering tools such as robot simulation, CAD and process planning. Hence, when the cell and the database are updated a new model can easily be generated. The database is also connected to the real cell so up-to-date data can be retrieved from the real cell. The model generator described in this paper was implemented and tested in a discrete event system simulation tool and showed promising results. With this approach it is possible to handle flexible automation cells more effectively in a process planning stage.
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