Distributed Intelligent Control Systems for an Unmanned Manufacturing Cell

Abstract

An unattended or unmanned manufacturing cell consists of a group of computer- numerical control (CNC) machine tools arranged around a robot (see Fig. 19.1). For such a cell to be intelligent, the built-in machine controllers must have at least the intelligence level of the machine operator. For example, consider a conventional machine tool machining a part. When the operator sees chips buildup around the cutting tool area, he or she stops the machine, clears the chips, and restart the machine. In an unmanned robotic cell, the controller of each machine must recognize chip accumulation around the cutting tool area and must initiate actions to stop the machine, clear the chips, and restart the machine. Current built-in machine tool controllers do not have this cognition level. Consequently, an intelligent control system is needed to control such manufacturing tasks in an unmanned manufacturing cell.