Research on task-oriented planning
Who does which task and when?
In networked production systems, more and more machines and autonomous vehicles are working alongside people. In order to make efficient use of all the possibilities, a sub-project of "FORobotics" is researching software for the appropriate allocation of resources.
Autonomous transport systems, robots and mobile robots are examples of cyber-physical systems that are used alongside humans in networked production systems. Due to their ability to communicate and interact, these resources can not only process orders on their own, but also support each other in teams with other production resources. This offers added value in terms of flexibility and the achievement of logistical targets.
The challenge for production planning and control in this scenario is a suitable allocation of resources. This is being developed in the "Task-oriented planning" sub-project of the FORobotics - Mobile, ad-hoc cooperating robots research network, which is funded by the Bavarian Research Foundation.
The aim of a production program is the optimal allocation of resources so that all set business targets, such as lead time, quality or delivery date, are met. In cyber-physical production systems and with the increased ability to collaborate, the number of orders that can potentially be processed by a team of several resources increases.
This results in a large number of possible production programs in the planning system, as there can be several resource assignments and combinations for an order. Depending on the resource pool, possible teams can be combinations of workers, robots, machines and transport systems. The number of resources in a team can also vary. This creates two central problems for the planning system: When should a specific team be deployed and which team compositions make sense at all?
For the first problem, time identification factors on the one hand and skills matching on the other can be used. Teams are scheduled if they provide a time advantage over the use of a single resource. In addition to the pure processing time, this benefit also includes the scheduling of the order. For skills matching, the skills of all available resources are compared with the requirements of the orders and matches between skills and requirements are searched for. If there are no matches, resources are combined based on their skills.
This allows teams to be generated for processing an order, but not all of these teams are useful and can be implemented in a real production program. Too many cooperation partners and too many changing cooperation partners should be avoided, as this can make data exchange and coordination very complex and severely restrict the flexibility of production.
This approach is being implemented in the FORobotics research network in collaboration with the partners software4production and Software Factory. A planning and control architecture is being developed that is suitable for planning and controlling the processing of orders by a group of resources. With the help of software4production's planning system, the orders are first read in, analyzed and finally a list of suitable resources or teams of resources is created using skills matching. The resources are prioritized and scheduled according to suitability using various customizable target criteria, such as reducing throughput times or increasing adherence to deadlines. The created production program is then transferred to the Thingworx control software, which is provided by Software Factory, where it is controlled.
The task of the control software is to start, monitor progress and manage errors during order execution. This requires a constant exchange of data between Thingworx and the resources in production, with which all relevant information is exchanged between the systems. The control software must be capable of executing logical and-relationships, as the individual jobs of an order can only start once the upstream job has been successfully completed by all partners involved.
The next steps are the implementation of further target criteria for the prioritization of resources, the testing of further rules for group composition and improved error management in the control system. J. Schilp, L. Vogt, M. Krä/as
Briefly explained: The MHI e.V.
The Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Montage, Handhabung und Industrierobotik e.V. (MHI e.V.) is a network of renowned university professors - institute directors and chair holders - from German-speaking countries. The members conduct both fundamental and application-oriented research on a wide range of current topics in the fields of assembly, handling and industrial robotics. Further information on the society, its members and activities: http://www.wgmhi.de.
Briefly explained: Chair of Production Informatics
The Chair of Production Informatics at the University of Augsburg was founded in 2015 by Prof. Dr.-Ing. It deals with cyber-physical production systems for the optimization of industrial value and process chains, including in assembly and additive manufacturing. The research focus is on IT-based methods, concepts and solutions for end-to-end information and data processing and the networking of production resources. In addition to research and teaching, the Chair of Production Informatics also offers consulting and services as part of industrial contract research. www.uni-augsburg.de/de/fakultaet/fai/informatik/prof/pi
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