This thesis research aims to develop a virtual model utilizing a simulation robot cell comprising one or multiple robots and establishing seamless communication with CMAS (Configurable Multi-Agent System) for control purposes. The successful implementation of this setup yielded significant benefits, particularly in pre-risk assessment for the robot cell in Plug and Produce (P&amp;P) operations. By leveraging the virtual simulation prior to actual deployment, the identification and prevention of collision scenarios within the robot's paths were effectively achieved. The simulation was conducted using ABB Robot Studio software, which was seamlessly connected to CMAS software through the REST API protocol. This integration facilitated efficient data exchange and real-time control, enhancing the overall performance and safety of the robot cell. / <p>21 hp</p>

Die Wandelbarkeit von Anlagen im Kontext der Industrie 4.0 führt dazu, dass zukünftig Fertigungsmodule unterschiedlicher Hersteller interagieren müssen – es entsteht eine heterogene Modullandschaft. Das erfordert Lösungen für die automatisierungstechnische Einbindung und den flexiblen Austausch von weiteren, herstellerfremden und bislang unbekannten Modulen. Es werden Lösungskonzepte zur Umsetzung eines strukturierten und herstellerunabhängigen Engineering-Konzepts für Plug & Produce in einer heterogenen Landschaft von Fertigungsmodulen benötigt. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit stellen die Autoren eine Architektur vor, wie dieses Ziel erreicht werden kann. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf der Steuerungsarchitektur, der Informationsmodellierung und der Virtuellen Inbetriebnahme als Grundlage für das gemischt real-virtuelle Engineering. Das vorgestellte Konzept basiert auf einer Anforderungsanalyse und ist prototypisch umgesetzt.

This thesis introduces a Human-Machine Interface (HMI) developed to enhance safety and efficiency in Configurable Multiagent Systems (CMAS) operating in Plug-and-Produce robot cells. The HMI addresses challenges related to flexible CMAS configurations, specifically addressing collision detection difficulties. Through runtime Configuration and coding of CMAS, the HMI identifies safer robot paths to prevent collisions during real-world CMAS operations. The experimental phase involves a virtual environment, demonstrating the HMI's effectiveness in collision prevention during CMAS operations. This research represents a notable advancement in collision-free motion planning for flexible CMAS configurations, offering a valuable tool for operators to operate CMAS in dynamic production settings, fostering safer and more efficient robotic automation across industries

This thesis presents methods for simplifying the use of multi-agent systems in Plug &amp; Produce. The demand for customized products and low volume production is constantly increasing. The industry has for many years used dedicated manufacturing systems where it is difficult and expensive to adapt to new product designs. Instead, factories are forced to use human workers for certain tasks that demand high flexibility and rapid adaption for new product designs. Several solutions have been proposed over the years to create highly flexible automation systems that automatically handles rapid adaption for new products. A concept called Plug &amp; Produce aims at creating a system where resources and parts can be added in minutes rather than days in dedicated systems. One promising solution for implementing Plug &amp; Produce is the distributed approach called multi-agent systems, where each resource and part get its own controller that communicates with each other to reach manufacturing goals. The idea is that the system automatically handles the adaption for new products. However, still today the use of such systems is extremely limited in the industry. One reason is the lack of mature multi-agent systems that are easy to use and that hides the complexity of the underlying agent system from the users. This is a huge problem since these systems tend to be more complex than traditional approaches. Thus, this thesis focuses on simplifying the use of multi-agent systems by proposing various methods for bringing the multi-agent technology for Plug &amp; Produce closer to the industry. / Denna avhandling presenterar metoder för att förenkla användningen av multiagent-system för Plug &amp; Produce. Efterfrågan på kundanpassade produkter och lågvolymproduktion ökar ständigt. Industrin har under många år använt sig avdedikerade tillverkningssystem som gör det både svårt och dyrt att anpassa sig till nya produktdesigner. Istället tvingas fabriker att antälla onödigt många operatörer för vissa arbetsuppgifter där det krävs hög flexibilitet och snabb anpassning till nya produktdesigner. Flera lösningar har föreslagits under åren för att skapa flexibla automatiseringssystem som automatiskt hanterar snabb omställning till nya produkter. Ett koncept som heter Plug &amp; Produce handlar om att skapa system där nya typer av resurser och produkter kan kopplas in i systemet på ett fåtal minuter snarare än dagar i traditionella system. För att implementera Plug &amp; Produce kan multi-agent-system användas, där varje resurs och produkt får sin egen styrning. Agenterna kan sedan kommunicera med varandra för att nå de mål som satts upp för tillverkningen av produkterna. Tanken är att systemet automatiskt hanterar anpassningen till nya produkter. Idag är dock användningen av sådana system extremt begränsad i industrin. En av anledningarna är avsaknaden av mogna multi-agent-system som är lätta att använda och där komplexiteten hos det underliggande agensystemet kan döljas från användaren. Detta är ett stort problem eftersom multi-agent-system tenderar att vara mer komplexa än traditionella system. Därför fokuserar denna avhandling på att förenkla användningen av multi-agent-system genom att föreslå olika metoder som kan underlätta användandet av multi-agent-tekniken för Plug &amp; Produce i industrin.

Adaptations to a fluctuating market and intensified customer demands for unique products are a challenge for manufacturers. Manual manufacturing is still the most flexible, nevertheless, automation ensures stable quality, minimizes wear and tear of the operators, and contributes to a safer and better working environment as the distance between the operator and the process can be increased and screened off. Hence, the manufacturing industry is searching for human-centric automation solutions that are flexible enough to handle these challenges. Conventional automation is tailored for one or a few similar variants of products, in addition, increased flexibility implies increased complexity to handle. This licentiate thesis demonstrates a flexible Plug &amp; Produce automated manufacturing concept where the complexity is redirected to focus on the products and manufacturing processes by utilizing artificial intelligence. Together with digital threads that connect the product design to automatic manufacturing that enables manufacturing companies to manage new production scenarios with their in-house knowledge. Data is picked directly from the computer-based design of the products and process knowledge that normally exists within the manufacturing company is added through graphical user interfaces. The graphical configuration tools visualize the flow of sequential and parallel manufacturing operations together with process-bound information. Plug &amp; Produce relies on pluggable process modules with re-cyclical manufacturing resources that can be plugged in and out as needed. As an example, a module with a robot can be plugged in to help an existing robot and thereby balance the production capacity. In Plug &amp; Produce resources start working and cooperate with other resources automatically when they are plugged in. To achieve this, the resources are provided with distributed artificial intelligence together with intelligent products that know how to be finalized. In this concept, everything is digitally configurable by the in-house knowledge of the manufacturing companies. A Plug &amp; Produce test bed was built to verify the concept in cooperation with industrial representatives. / Denna licentiatavhandling påvisar ett koncept för att öka flexibiliteten och samtidigt rikta om komplexiteten i automatiserade produktionssystem hos tillverkande företag på ett sätt så att deras interna personal på egen hand kan ställa om tillverkningen mot nya produkter. Anpassningar till marknadens fluktuationer och efterfrågan av nya unika produkter är en ständigt pågående process. Alltmer av produktionen flyttas tillbaka till Sverige och övriga Europa vilket ökar efterfrågan på flexibel och omställbar automation. Automation håller nere prisnivån då arbetskraften är dyr, säkerhetsställer jämn kvalité, minimerar förslitningsskador på de anställda och bidrar till säkrare och trevligare arbetsmiljö då distansen mellan operatör och process kan ökas och avskärmas. Produktion som flyttas till hemmamarknaden från låglöneländer ersätter ofta högflexibel och anpassningsbar manuell tillverkning vilket är en stor utmaning för industrin. Ett Plug &amp; Produce koncept för automatiserad tillverkning utvecklas och beskrivs i denna avhandling där automationen enkelt kan ställas om av den interna personalen och anpassas till nya produkter. Omställning med hjälp egen personal möjliggörs genom att så mycket information som möjligt utvinns från produktens datorbaserade design. Processkunskap som normalt besitts inom det tillverkande företaget adderas därtill med hjälp av grafiska användarinterface som visar flödet av tillverkningsoperationer tillsammans med processpecifika uppgifter såsom mått, bearbetningshastigheter, temperaturer och färg. Plug &amp; Produce system är uppbyggda kring processmoduler med tillverkningsresurser som kan pluggas in och ut efter behov. Till exempel kan en modul med en robot pluggas in för att avlasta befintlig robot och därmed öka produktionshastigheten. Specialdesignade resurser kan pluggas in för att öka effektiviteten och minimera energikonsumtionen. För att den inpluggade processmodulen självmant skall börja jobba och samarbeta med de andra modulerna är den försedd med egen lokal artificiell intelligens. Dessa processmoduler kan tack vare sin intelligens pluggas in i olika Plug &amp; Produce system och är därmed återvinningsbara i nya system. Intelligensen kan vara lokalt placerad i en dator på resursen eller i datormolnet kopplat till resursen. På samma sätt kan produkterna förses med intelligens och kallas då för smarta produkter. Dessa produkter har som mål att bli färdigproducerade genom delmål i form av tillverkningsoperationer. Denna intelligens förses med kunskap och erfarenheter av personalen inom det tillverkande företaget genom användarvänliga interface. När användarvänligheten Plug &amp; Produce testbädd har byggts upp tillsammans med representanter frånprefabricerade trähusindustrin. Tillverkning av prefabricerade trähus är i idag ihög grad manuell då existerande automationslösningar inte är flexibla nog eftersom husen är i hög grad är kundanpassade. Arbetet som beskrivs i denna avhandling gynnar trähusindustrin och därmed klimatet då trä binder kol för en lång tid framåt. / <p>Paper A is not included in the digital licentiate thesis due to copyright . </p>

Robotics has been considered as a viable automation solution for the aerospace industry to address manufacturing cost. Many of the existing robot systems augmented with guidance from a large volume metrology system have proved to meet the high dimensional accuracy requirements in aero-structure assembly. However, they have been mainly deployed as costly and dedicated systems, which might not be ideal for aerospace manufacturing having low production rate and long cycle time. The work described in this thesis is to provide technical solutions to improve the flexibility and cost-efficiency of such metrology-integrated robot systems. To address the flexibility, a software framework that supports reconfigurable system integration is developed. The framework provides a design methodology to compose distributed software components which can be integrated dynamically at runtime. This provides the potential for the automation devices (robots, metrology, actuators etc.) controlled by these software components to be assembled on demand for various assembly applications. To reduce the cost of deployment, this thesis proposes a two-stage error compensation scheme for industrial robots that requires only intermittent metrology input, thus allowing for one expensive metrology system to be used by a number of robots. Robot calibration is employed in the first stage to reduce the majority of robot inaccuracy then the metrology will correct the residual errors. In this work, a new calibration model for serial robots having a parallelogram linkage is developed that takes into account both geometric errors and joint deflections induced by link masses and weight of the end-effectors. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the two pieces of work presented above. The proposed framework is adopted to create a distributed control system that implements calibration and error compensation for a large industrial robot having a parallelogram linkage. The control system is formed by hot-plugging the control applications of the robot and metrology used together. Experimental results show that the developed error model was able to improve the 3s positional accuracy of the loaded robot from several millimetres to less than one millimetre and reduce half of the time previously required to correct the errors by using only the metrology. The experiments also demonstrate the capability of sharing one metrology system to more than one robot.

Robotics has been considered as a viable automation solution for the aerospace industry to address manufacturing cost. Many of the existing robot systems augmented with guidance from a large volume metrology system have proved to meet the high dimensional accuracy requirements in aero-structure assembly. However, they have been mainly deployed as costly and dedicated systems, which might not be ideal for aerospace manufacturing having low production rate and long cycle time. The work described in this thesis is to provide technical solutions to improve the flexibility and cost-efficiency of such metrology-integrated robot systems. To address the flexibility, a software framework that supports reconfigurable system integration is developed. The framework provides a design methodology to compose distributed software components which can be integrated dynamically at runtime. This provides the potential for the automation devices (robots, metrology, actuators etc.) controlled by these software components to be assembled on demand for various assembly applications. To reduce the cost of deployment, this thesis proposes a two-stage error compensation scheme for industrial robots that requires only intermittent metrology input, thus allowing for one expensive metrology system to be used by a number of robots. Robot calibration is employed in the first stage to reduce the majority of robot inaccuracy then the metrology will correct the residual errors. In this work, a new calibration model for serial robots having a parallelogram linkage is developed that takes into account both geometric errors and joint deflections induced by link masses and weight of the end-effectors. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the two pieces of work presented above. The proposed framework is adopted to create a distributed control system that implements calibration and error compensation for a large industrial robot having a parallelogram linkage. The control system is formed by hot-plugging the control applications of the robot and metrology used together. Experimental results show that the developed error model was able to improve the 3 positional accuracy of the loaded robot from several millimetres to less than one millimetre and reduce half of the time previously required to correct the errors by using only the metrology. The experiments also demonstrate the capability of sharing one metrology system to more than one robot.

This work proposed a new automated hazard identification (AHI) approach for Pluge&amp;Produce systems. After going through related standards and research works, the required inputs for automated hazard identification were determined. Then, software was presented to demonstrate using these inputs to perform AHI. This software can identify the resource and the emergent hazards. A new approach for identifying the emerging hazards was proposed.This approach uses the concepts of skill types and lookup tables to cover the wide variety of possible hazards when resources work together. Then display all identified hazards in a Hazard Identification Table (HIT). The proposed HIT is designed to support the persons working in risk reduction by drastically reducing the time needed for hazard identification and preparing them to proceed to the next steps in risk analyses.

The Plug &amp; Produce manufacturing system is a visionary concept that promises to facilitate the seamless integration and adaptation of manufacturing resources and production processes. The Plug &amp; Produce control system allows for the automatic addition and removal of manufacturing resources, minimizing human intervention. However, the reconfigurability and autonomous decision-making features of Plug &amp; Produce control systems pose challenges to safety design and control functions. In contrast to conventional manufacturing systems with fixed layouts and processes, ensuring safety in Plug &amp; Produce systems is complicated due to the complex risk assessment process, the difficulty of implementing non-restrictive safety measures covering all possible hazards, and the challenge of designing a reliable controller for consistent safe operation. This thesis addresses these challenges through various contributions. It introduces an automatic hazard identification method, considering emergent hazards after reconfiguration. A novel domain ontology is developed, incorporating safety models specific to Plug &amp; Produce systems. The work also proposes a generic, model-based, and automatic risk assessment method, along with a method for the safe execution of plans based on the results of the risk assessment. The results of this research offer benefits to process planners, who are responsible for coordinating the manufacturing processes with product design in the Plug &amp; Produce system. The proposed solution provides tools for process planners to validate their plans and reduces their safety-related responsibilities. The proposed safety assurance method seamlessly integrates into the multi-agent control of Plug &amp; Produce, providing the control system with risk scenarios associated with process plans. This enables proactive and reliable control, effectively avoiding potential risks during system operation. / Föreställ dig en automatiserad produktionsanläggning som omedelbart och automatiskt kan anpassa sig till förändringar utan att kompromissa med säkerheten för den personal som arbetar där. Denna avhandling strävar efter att uppnå just detta genom ett smartare sätt att säkerställa att produktionsanläggningar baserat på Plug &amp; Produce kan hantera säkerhet. Dettainnebär att konceptet Plug &amp; Produce nu närmar sig ett industriellt förverkligande. Säkerhet för automatiserade produktionsanläggningar innebär att alla maskiner ska vara utrustade med skydd för att göra arbetet säkrare. Idag är det vanligt med övervakning som skydd, dvs en dator som övervakar att allt går rätt till och stänger av om något är på väg att hända. I ett produktionsavsnitt som är baserat på Plug &amp; Produce kan man enkelt ställa om, det vill säga, lägga till eller ta bort maskiner, ändra layouten eller ändra på produkter som produceras. Efter en sådan omställning så måste säkerheten i produktionsanläggningen ses över enligt föreskrivna lagar och regler. Traditionellt så kräver detta anlitande av en säkerhetsexpert. Detta medför att en omställning utifrån ett säkerhetsperspektiv är både kostsamt och tidskrävande. Med resultatet från denna avhandling så går det nu att ställa om utan att behöva implementera nya säkerhetsfunktioner efter varje förändring. Denna forskning har utvidgat kunskapsområdet inom produktionsteknik för att skapa en "smartarefabrik" genom att inkludera säkerhetsfunktioner.Resultatet inkluderar algoritmer som kan upptäcka potentiella faror i fabriken och automatiskt tillämpa säkerhetsåtgärder för ett övervakat system. Detta innebär mindre tidsåtgång och lägre kostnader för säkerhetsarbetet. De som drar mest nytta av detta är människorna som planerar för hur saker skall tillverkas med hjälp av Plug &amp; Produce. Resultatet av detta arbete underlättar deras arbetsuppgifter och bevarar flexibiliteten i Plug &amp; Produce, vilket eliminerar behovet av att välja mellan flexibilitet och säkerhet

The project has explored the topic Smart factory with main focus on the future production staff. The project aims to investigate how the production staff is affected by Volvo Cars Skövde Engine Plant (SkEP) becoming a Smart factory, in the era of Industry 4.0. The definition of the Smart factory is a demand of Mobile- and wireless technologies, Human-oriented, pursue a Flexible production with Sustainable manufacturing, as well as utilization of CPS (Cyber-Physical Systems), IoT (Internet-of-Things) and Cloud storage. The current situation and the future five to twenty years were examined in order to define the future production staff. This by conducting an observational study and several interviews. The studies’ results were that SkEP cannot be regarded as smart since several demands are inadequate by definition. Five years are considered too short of a time for the plant to fulfill the demands. However, according to the interviews and literature, SkEP are expected to become smart in twenty years after time refinement of existing technologies and implementation of new ones. The authors estimate Leadership, Information, IT and Production lay-out to be the areas that require the most effort. The future production staff are expected to be flexible with workplace, working hours and able to manage multiple variants. They should be included in self-supporting teams where every individual possesses an expertise, are motivated and participating. Production staff should perform complex, varied jobs with more responsibility by endorsement of decision support systems. The staffs’ competence should consist of technical education, high basic and lay-out knowledge and the ability to contribute to the collection of information and analyses. Interaction with technology is expected to expand and the personnel must therefore have a well-established comprehension of technology. The concept Smart factory is extensive and relatively new, which means that it is constantly evolving. Thus it is important for SkEP to be updated and adjust to the impact from the outside world.