On-Line Reconfigurable Machines
Crawford, Lara S. (Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)) | Do, Minh Binh (Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)) | Ruml, Wheeler S. (University of New Hampshire) | Hindi, Haitham (Accuray, Inc.) | Eldershaw, Craig (Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)) | Zhou, Rong (Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)) | Kuhn, Lukas (Qualcomm R&D) | Fromherz, Markus P. J. (Xerox) | Biegelsen, David (Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)) | Kleer, Johan de (Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)) | Larner, Daniel (Google)
A recent trend in intelligent machines and manufacturing has been toward reconfigurable manufacturing systems, which move away from the idea of a fixed factory line executing an unchanging set of operations, and toward the goal of an adaptable factory structure. With this capability, machines can reconfigure while running, enable or disable capabilities in real time, and respond quickly to changes in the system or the environment (including faults). We propose an approach to achieving on-line reconfigurability based on a high level of system modularity supported by integrated, model-based planning and control software. We describe the implementation of this design in a prototype highly modular, parallel printing system.