Integrating Heterogeneous Robot and Software Components by Agent Technology

We present an approach to integrate into a coherent overall system: (1) robots of different kinds and greatly different functionalities, (2) existing software components, and (3) human users and operators. The key idea to the integration is to use modern agent technology in mediating layers between these mutually alien components. The FIPA Agent Platform Standard is used as the technical basis. A prototype system for demonstrating the approach implements a manufacturing scenario consisting of state-of-the-art manufacturing robots, autonomous mobile transport platforms of different types and different capabilities, MES, ERP or other software components, and human users/operators who provide production requests, decisions, and additional information. Both the system developer and the user/manufacturer profit from the integration approach, as it provides advantages in software engineering as well as scalability and reusability of production hardware and software, and a way to using modern autonomous robot technology in the production process.