Universal work cell controller-application experiences in flexible manufacturing

Industrial robots are increasing being applied in production situations of small quantity or single run units. These applications are characterized by a large product variety hence production flexibility is one of the most important requirements for new robot applications. In these applications, the robot must be seen as a single component of a flexible automation system, the robot-based flexible manufacturing work cell. Due to the numerous possible configurations in factories it is necessary to develop application specific modular manufacturing work cells by the usage of different components. Nevertheless it is the goal to standardize the work cell internal information structure, which permits the utilization of standardized control structures. The control components must be adaptable to different work cell configurations. In this paper the universal controller system LUCAS for robot-based flexible manufacturing work cells is described. For verification of the underlying control concepts some example applications in flexible assembly and flexible machining are shown. In addition, prospects for further developments are presented.<>