Open architecture controller solution for custom machine systems

In today's marketplace, product quality and price have become requirements for entry and are no longer sufficient to differentiate one's product and gain a competitive advantage. A key to competition in the future will be a company's ability to respond quickly to a rapidly-changing global marketplace. Developers of manufacturing equipment must play a role in the reduction of the product development cycle time by increasing the flexibility of their equipment and decreasing its cost and time to market. This paper will discuss the implementation of an open-architecture machine controller on a flip-chip placement machine and how this implementation supports the goals of reduced development time and increased equipment flexibility. The following subjects are discussed: 1) Issues related to the selection of a standard operating system, including real-time performance, preemptive multi-tasking, multi-threaded applications, and development tools. 2) The use of a common API for motion, and I/O. 3) Use of a rapid application development and object-oriented programming techniques on the machine controller to shorten development time and support code reuse. 4) Specific hardware and software issues related to the implementation of the flip chip controller. This includes hardware and software implementation details, controller performance, and human interface issues.