A 3d visualization and simulation framework for intelligent physical agents

  • Authors:

  • Jose L. Martinez Lastra;Enrique Lopez Torres;Armando W. Colombo

  • Affiliations:

  • Institute of Production Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland;Institute of Production Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland;Schneider Electric GmbH, Seligenstadt, Germany

  • Venue:
  • HoloMAS'05 Proceedings of the Second international conference on Holonic and Multi-Agent Systems for Manufacturing
  • Year:
  • 2005

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Abstract

MAS (Multi-Agent Systems) and HMS (Holonic Manufacturing Systems) are enabling the vision of the Plug & Play Factory and paving the way for future autonomous production systems. Previous research activities and pilot implementations reported the FIPA (Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents) set of standards as a facilitator for the interoperation of heterogeneous agents in manufacturing control and planning. One of the current challenges for the design and implementation of intelligent agents is the simulation and visualization of the agent societies. This issue is significant as soon as the software agent is embedded into a mechatronic device or machine resulting in a physical intelligent agent with 3D-mechanical restrictions. This paper provides a review of the current software tools for the simulation and visualization of MAS in industrial applications and presents a software suite for the three-dimensional creation, simulation and visualization of agent societies. The documented research describes the methodology for the 3D representation of individual agents, the related identified objects present in the interaction protocols, and the assembly features and clustering algorithms. Finally, the paper describes how to capitalize the 3D information for controlling and planning of industrial assembly operations.