Flexible Agent-based Planning and Adaptation of Material Handling Systems

Today's material handling equipment and industrial automation solutions allow timely adaptation to changing environmental conditions within certain limits. However, in general the planning of material handling systems is a knowledge-driven, non-transparent and time-consuming planning procedure. The aim of the approach presented in this paper is the development of a decentralized methodology for the (rough) design of material handling systems. In this approach the material handling systems are modeled as complex adaptive systems and their planning is modeled as a procedure based on information exchange, formally described and assigned by an agent system. The described planning procedure is based on a bottom-up approach, in which the material handling system is formed by a multiple targeted composition, configuration and adaptation. The planning, based on previously defined rules, leads to an increase in efficiency and transparency.