Service Oriented Architecture for Dynamic Scheduling of Mobile Robots for Material Supply

Abstract

This paper presents the design and prototype implementation of a service based control system responsible for the material supply operations in assembly lines. Mobile Assistant Units (MAUs) are responsible for the transportation of the consumables from the warehouses to the production stations. A service oriented, web based software has been developed for the monitoring of the shop floor status and the parts’ supply dynamic scheduling, based on time and inventory. The proposed system has been applied to a case from the automotive sector demonstrating the ease of deployment and efficiency in the co-ordination of the mobile units’ operation.