Article Abstract

	Title:	Cooperative multi-agent reconfigurable manufacturing environments
	Author:	Shichun C. Zho, Alejandro Ramirez-Serrano, Robert W. Brennan
	Address:	Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, 5 King's College Road, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G8, Canada. ' Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada. ' Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
	Journal:	International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management 2006 - Vol. 8, No.1/2/3  pp. 283 - 303
	Abstract:	This paper discusses the use of resource-bounded intelligent agents acting in (complex) manufacturing environments. Agents operate for the coordination of multitasks performed within the plant. In particular, we discuss the agents' operation selection problem. The agent's required capabilities requires effective design and implementation approaches able to cope with the high-level demands. In this paper, we provide a cooperative control scheme for a team of Flexible Manufacturing Workcells. This paper provides a modelling framework that eases the design of autonomous agents for complex large-scale multi-agent production systems. Agents' behaviours are simple, allowing to be easily implemented, scalable and practical. The proposed approach creates effective coordinated and self-organised agents capable of accomplishing their goals.
	Keywords:	agent-based systems; cooperative control; distributed control; reconfigurable manufacturing; intelligent agents; multi-agent systems; flexible manufacturing; manufacturing cells; FMC; coordination; self-organising agents.
	DOI:	10.1504/IJMTM.2006.008799
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