Design and simulation of an adaptive and collaborative assembly cell

Nowadays, product-mix in small batches contributes to shop floor uncertainties, whereas distributed resources are handled collaboratively during assembly planning. There is a growing need to develop methods that can increase adaptability and flexibility in dynamic and collaborative job-shop assembly floors. Based on our previous work on an assembly planning framework using Function Blocks (FBs), a novel approach to assembly planning and control is developed, which enables adaptive decision making besides effective plan execution. Following our previous work, this paper reports the latest development of design and simulation of an FB communication network in Matlab-Simulink environment, and validates the methodology through an example. Copyright © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.