An intelligent control approach for machining

An approach for controlling an intelligent machining workstation is introduced. The control system is built in behavior-achieving layers, which allows a machine tool to operate at increasing levels of competence. Each layer focuses on a specific simple control task for machining processes. Qualitative reasoning is used to augment the system at the highest layer, giving the system the ability to foresee patterns of behavior that lead to failure. It is shown how qualitative models can be selected, set up, and used to adjust control parameters.<>