Automatic compilation of concurrent hybrid factories from product assembly specifications

We address the problem of designing a distributed, hybrid factory given a description of an assembly process and a,palette of controllers for basic assembly operations. In particular, we present a method that, starting with a product assembly graph (PAG), allows us to "compile" a factory description, consisting of a geometry and a hybrid, dynamical system representing the motions of robots on that geometry. This method is based on a formalism, which we have described in previous work, that allows us to manage the details of low level, continuous control of robot actuation and high level, logical control of various couplings of robot behaviors. The factory description is intended to be an aid in the design of an actual factory, if not directly implementable itself.