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Distributed multi-agent scheduling and control system for robotic flexible assembly cells

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Abstract

This paper deals with the development of a distributed multi-agent system (DMAS) for scheduling and controlling Robotic Flexible Assembly Cells (RFAC). In the proposed system, an approach for solving one of the most challenging decisional problems in RFAC is proposed and implemented. This problem is related to the products operations scheduling which requires their allocation and sequencing on the robots, while satisfying products and robots constraints under makespan minimization. The proposed DMAS addresses this challenge by using a cooperative approach supported by three kinds of autonomous control agents: supervisory agent, local agents, and remote agents. These agents interact by a negotiation protocol based on common dispatching rules for coordinating their individual decisions, satisfying their local objective and providing an optimized global solution. Moreover, because of the dynamic nature of the assembly systems, it is imperative to consider external disturbances on production scheduling and to solve the related issues. Consequently, DMAS has the ability to respond and manage some dynamic events that may occur in the cells such as unexpected robot breakdown or dynamic products arrivals. Computational results on benchmarks show the effectiveness and the robustness of the proposed system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division Productique et Robotique, Centre de Développement des Technologies Avancées (CDTA), BP 17, Baba Hassen, Algiers, Algeria

    Abderraouf Maoudj, Brahim Bouzouia, Abdelfetah Hentout & Ahmed Kouider

  2. Laboratoire Robotique Parallélisme et systèmes Embarqués (LRPE), Faculté d’Electronique et d’Informatique, Université des sciences et de la technologie Houari-Boumédiène (USTHB), BP 32, El Alia, Bab Ezouar, Algeria

    Abderraouf Maoudj & Redouane Toumi

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  1. Abderraouf Maoudj
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  2. Brahim Bouzouia
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  3. Abdelfetah Hentout
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  4. Ahmed Kouider
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  5. Redouane Toumi
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Correspondence to Abderraouf Maoudj.

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Maoudj, A., Bouzouia, B., Hentout, A. et al. Distributed multi-agent scheduling and control system for robotic flexible assembly cells. J Intell Manuf 30, 1629–1644 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-017-1345-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-017-1345-z

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