EngngApplic. Artif. Intell. Vol. 10, No. 2, pp.

225-230, 1997
© 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd
Pergamon Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
PII :S0952-1976(97)00005-5 0952-1976197 $17.00+0.00

Contributed Paper

Some Communication Problems of KB-controlled

Manufacturing Systems
G E O R G E L. K O V A C S
Computer and Automation Research Institute of HAS, Budapest, Hungary

J/kNOS N A C S A
Computer and Automation Research Institute of HAS, Budapest, Hungary

(Received September 1996)

Knowledge-based or intelligent control of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) involves the continuous or
frequent observation and evaluation of the status and condition of the system performance, decision-making
based both on the evaluation results and on pre-defined knowledge, and then system operation according to
these decisions. In the case of normal, scheduled operation, there is no need for either intelligence or
interactions to modify the operation. The procedure given above may, however, help if any kind of disturbance
or irregularity happens, as is rather common in the case of highly sophisticated, complex systems. This paper
deals with control and communication problems in flexible manufacturing systems using programs based on a
real-time expert-system environment, taking into consideration the requirement for openness in up-to-date
systems. Two robot applications will be discussed as demonstrations.
© 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Keywords: Flexible manufacturing systems, open systems, expert systems, arc welding, robot control,
industrial networking.

I. INTRODUCTION designated as "intelligent" control. Most of them are

Recent discrete manufacturing and/or assembly systems
(FMS/FMA) are more and more often controlled using
MAP/MMS (Manufacturing Automation Protocol, Manu-
facturing Message Specification) (Brill and Gramm, 1991)
because this technology is widely available from many
vendors and gives really safe and open solutions according
to the demands of OS[ (Open System Interconnection).
Many users are not aware that they have such inter-
connections; they just enjoy the useful features of MAP. It
must also be admitted that MAP or MAP-related solutions
are still rather expensive.
On the other hand, so-called "intelligent control" is
increasingly in general demand. There is lively discussion
in the literature and in private communications among
control engineers about the existence of, and need for,
intelligent control (Franklin and Meystel, 1994). Some
experts claim that there is no such thing, that could really be
Correspondence should be sent to: Dr G. L. Kowics, CIM Research
Laboratory, Computer and Automation Research Institute of HAS, POB
63, 1518 Budapest, Hungary.
225
speaking only about process control, and not about discrete
manufacturing or robot control; however the control tasks
and problems of manufacturing systems are basically
similar to those of batch-like process control. Without going
into further discussion of this issue however, the authors of
this paper accept the necessity for intelligent control, which
is often provided by using expert systems. Some commer-
cial expert systems already provide good
problem-description and software-development tools,
where the programming is closer to the problem to be
solved and to the user, and limited real-time facilities are
supported as well (Laffey et al., 1988).
The next section briefly introduces the basic system, from
which the developments described later, started. Section 3
discusses the communication problems of expert systems in
FMS applications, and gives a problem decomposition.
Later on, there is a brief description of the features of the
MAP-based Virtual Manufacturing Device model, used in
intelligent control. Finally, there is a presentation of the
detailed basic definitions in the context of an "intelligent
robot cell controller with open communication".
226 GEORGE L. KOVACS and JANOS NACSA: KB-CONTROLLED SYSTEMS

2. A K N O W L E D G E - B A S E D HYBRID tools, robots, transfer units such as AGVs, etc.), together

SIMULATION-SCHEDULER SYSTEM
The first prototype to be developed in this work was a
knowledge-based simulation-scheduler system called Sim-
Sched-Q (Kovzics et al., 1993). In the SimSched-Q system
(Fig. 1) the simulation was implemented in a "traditional"
simulation/animation system called SIMAN/Cinema that
could, however, be used throughout the world. This was
surrounded by expert-system modules (preparation, on-line
quality and scheduler advisor, and evaluation), implemented
in the same G2 Vet. 3.0 object-oriented real-time intelligent
environment. The study in this paper refers specifically to
the SimSched-Q system, as the resulting scheduling data
provide the basic input for (intelligent) FMS control.
Similar efforts are, however, also being made elsewhere
(e.g. Somlo and Buzidi, 1996).
There are four expert systems involved: two of these are
shallowly coupled with the simulation (Preparation and
Evaluation), while the other two are deeply coupled (the
Quality and Scheduler advisors). The structure and func-
tionality of the system were designed and developed in ouch
a way that the simulation might later be replaced by a real
FMS environment, and the ES would become the real-time
controller.
The prototype application was developed using real data
(layout, capacities, process plans, machine parameters, etc.)
from some existing FMS, for example the Pilot FMS at the
Technical University of Budapest. This system contains four
"holon-like" cells (storage with AGV, measurement, assem-
bly and metal-cutting consisting of a CNC lathe and a CNC
machining center served by robots) on a network.
To address real-time control in this sense, all the
scheduling data is needed--such as the starting and
finishing dates of all operations of all equipment (machine-
with the possibilities for downloading CNC control pro-
grams to all equipment. It is also necessary to accept and
evaluate different signals from the equipment, etc. The
times of loading/unloading should be calculated too.
3. COMMUNICATION WITH EXPERT SYSTEMS
The practical problems of the communication of expert
systems in CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing)
applications can be divided into two parts. One is the
hardware-software connection (physical) and the other is
the logical connection between the controller(s) and the
controlled devices. This decomposition was found to be
very useful, in both the design and implementation phases
during recent projects in the authors' CIM Laboratory. If
this decomposition is not so sharp, many problems may
occur during the development, and especially in main-
tenance later on.
There are relatively easy programming interfaces (C/
C + + , etc.) in most available ES shells. These interfaces
provide capabilities for data transfer and communication
with external tasks, stations, etc. They support clear and
easy programming to reach objects, to call procedures, to set
and get variables, etc. The interfaces are dedicated to
specific software tools of the ES, and they are generally
aimed towards the external world without being able to take
account of the specific requirements of the given applica-
tion. So almost all CIM implementations require the
development of special software to cover this gap between
the external world and the ES.
Clearly, the communication functions depend on the
capabilities of the expert system. The methods of learning
and knowledge handling determine the logical levels of the

Preparation cell configuration,orders,

qualitymeasurementsetups
Expert System

Online schedulir
~ Simulation
Scheduling
Expert System ges

asurements /J
Online Quality ! of quality
Expert System
/ j StMAN IV. ! Cinema

/"~chedule, statistics

Expert System !

Fig. 1. SimSched-Qsystem:traditional simulationsurrounded with expert systemswithin one shell.

 GEORGE L. KOV,A,CS and J,/~NOS NACSA: KB-CONTROLLED SYSTEMS
communication. Three different types of working mode, and
different levels of the communication of an intelligent cell-
controller in a CIM environment, have been defined (Nacsa
and Kovfics, 1994). These levels are implemented--of
course--within the same protocol. The lowest level (Data
Acquisition and Control Level) has the basic control and
data-acquisition type messages. The other two levels
(Knowledge Acquisition and Knowledge Communication
Levels) have messages if and only if the "intelligence of the
cell controller is not hidden". "Hidden" intelligence means
in this context that the knowledge-based technology is
applied only inside the cell controller, and it has no specific
actions via the communication channel. A typical example
of the hidden case occurs if a KB system is built up on the
top of a traditional control system, using its original
communication. On the highest logical level the knowledge
acquisition and the so-called "knowledge communications"
have been separated. The former contains specific data for
modifying or verifying the knowledge of the given con-
troller. When a KB system shares its knowledge (new or
modified), it belongs to the knowledge communication level
(Buta and Springer, 1992). The communication messages of
most real and pilot KB applications for FMS control belong
to the lowest, or possibly to the middle, logical level.
4. MMS--AN OBJECT-ORIENTED
COMMUNICATION TOOL
Going back to the so-called "physical" connection, there
are many possibilities to follow. Most controller and
controlled-device vendors offer good (proprietary) solutions
to be used to communicate; vendor-independent standards
are also available.
Also in the CIM area, there are other accepted models or
modeling tools to describe the objects of an FMS. From the
communication point of view, the most promising one is the
object-oriented view of the so-called MMS (Manufacturing
Message Specification), which was originally an applica-
tion-layer protocol in the MAP OSI networks. It was later
realized that this specification is also good on the higher
level of the FMS (Nagy and Haidegger, 1994), to give a
communication-oriented view of the network elements and
their resources.
MMS gives a so-called VMD (Virtual Manufacturing
Device) view of each resource of the FMS. All the objects
of the MMS (e.g. VMD, domains, different types of
variables, program invocations) are object-oriented, with
special sets of attributes and actions (called "services" in
MMS) belonging to a given object type. Figure 2 shows a
simple, but rather general, type of VMD: an arc-welding
robot VMD. In a VMD it is possible to create, read and
write different types of variables, to up- and download
domains (which can be programs or machine data), to start
and stop different tasks (with program invocations) and to
handle events. The object-oriented view of MMS allows the
VMD model of a certain device to be designed, and it is
immediately possible to use this model as a specification of
the communication, where the services (what one can do
227
Arcwelding R o b o t VMD
(KUKA-ESS)
Vendor, Model, Revision
Physical & Logical Status
Fig. 2. Virtual ManufacturingDevicemodel of a robot (an example).
with a given object of the VMD) are defined and are
working in the MMS networks.
5. AN EXPERIMENTAL ROBOT CONTROL
SYSTEM
As the goal of this work was to provide real-time,
intelligent control of FMS systems, the next step was to
apply all the development results, and to integrate the
independently working and tested software-hardware mod-
ules.
As a first experimental set-up (Fig. 3) a simple configura-
tion was chosen. From earlier projects a Mitsubishi robot
was available, with a serial DNC connection to a PC that
had a MAP interface. The trivial TIC-TAC-TOE game was
served by the robot in the following manner: a user could
play against the G2 system. Of course, this is not a problem
for which such an intelligent system is needed, but this well-
known game is able to demonstrate clearly the "intelligent"
features of the control. On the other hand, the full capability
of MMS networking was used.
The structure of the setup shows that a special gateway
was developed between the G2 based controller and the
robot. This couples the G2 system interface (called GSI) to
the MMS standard communication (MMS-EASE, 1994). In
this case, this was the "gap-bridging software" mentioned in
Section 3. This special gateway of the G2 allows any
discrete manufacturing applications to be developed in G2
using the MMS standard interface, and without having to
modify the interface. In the demonstration version, the
gateway supports the context management and some
program invocation services of MMS.
For this solution a special object hierarchy called MLGO
(MMS-like G2 objects) and a procedure set were needed
within the G2 to make up the knowledge base to handle the
MMS interface. Three solutions were examined before
developing the MLGO:
• The first study considered how the complete MMS object
structure could be built up within the G2. This took a lot
of effort and gave a relatively complicated and not very
228 GEORGE L. KOV.A,CS and JANOS NACSA: KB-CONTROLLED SYSTEMS

INTELLIGENT [GSI GATEWAY

GS[
CONTROLLER ,,/obj. &
C
(G2 " proce- inter-
ENVIRONMENT) dures ik
face
MMS like G2 objects I MM client ]

CONTROL CONTROL
RESPONSE REQUEST

M M S s e r v e r of r o b o t ( P N I U )

//3 IB' Ill/

Fig. 3. Knowledge-based control of a robot with OSI network.

useful structure. Because of the different services and
their parameters, many external procedure calls are
defined by big parameter sets. All implemented MMS
services have their own GSI procedures, and all MMS
object types have their internal G2 object descriptions.
The complexity of the inner structure is the same as that
of the MMS itself. It did not give a clear and easy-to-use
tool for the G2 user.
• It would also have been possible to define independent
procedures for all cases when MMS services should be
used. In this case, the whole MMS functionality would be
implemented within the gateway. This is the solution
without any MLGO support.
• The third solution reduced the number of necessary
objects and procedures to some general terms. It also uses
a limited number of external GSI procedure calls, but
gives a rather general interface (with few limitations) to
MMS.
A simple example of the method can be seen in Fig. 4.
When the user wants to take a box to a given place, he or
she should click the mouse above the place. A G2 "user-
defined-action" belongs to the place, and starts the
next-move procedure. It will pick up the parameters of a
start-program-invocation MMS service from the MLGO
and call the GSI mms-serv external procedure that sends the
request to the robot across the gateway. This method is
rather general, and other MMS Application Enabler pro-
grams on the market are using similar solutions (e.g.
EasyMAP, 1993).

Operation "StartPl"
Param I3
Last value -1
R e m o t e appl "pc.mms"
M ms object type )rog-inv
IV M ms object name "R-GET"
start next-move Domain ....
(u s e r , P L A C E 3 ) Named type ....

call mms-s erv(operation,

remo te-ap p 1,object,d o main,
type, param) across mygsi-1

Fig. 4. Realization of MMS within the G2 system.

 GEORGE L. KOVACS and JANOS NACSA: KB-CONTROLLED SYSTEMS
PROARC system
AutoCADR13 ~1~,~ fir~on calls
AutoC~~ ~" Modelling andv,elding
plmningrr,tx~ule
STEPfile~, RCM3fie
[ Progr~n generationmodule ~Z
Cormaunacationmodule
MlVlS network
i i
Fig. 5. Structureof the dual system:PROARCand G2-basedKB environment.
6. K N O W L E D G E - B A S E D C O N T R O L OF AN ARC-
W E L D I N G ROBOT
In the last two years a CAD/CAM integrated robot
programming system (PROARC) has been developed, in
co-operation with German and Hungarian participants,
within the framework of an EC East-West project (Week et
al., 1995). The goal of the system is to assist arc-welding
with robots in SMEs, mostly for small and medium lot sizes,
with a PC-based, interactive, off-line robot programming
system. Most commercially available systems are either too
expensive, or cannot provide enough features for arc-
welding. CAD/CAM integration means that after adding the
necessary technological information to the AutoCAD-based
geometric design, the appropriate programs provide auto-
matic program generation and remote control for the applied
robot to execute the welding tasks.
The PROARC system can be divided into different
modules: Modelling, Welding Planning, Program Genera-
tion and Communication. In this functional division of the
system the different phases of an offline session are mapped.
However, the underlying structure is not that separable,
especially not for the first two modules. In the Modelling
Module, basically, the welding cell and its components are
input into the system. The Welding Planning Module
provides the capabilities to associate seams to the modelled
workpieces, and to generate all movements during the
welding session. The Program Generation generates the
robot-specific code, including some system- and environ-
ment-specific features as well. The Communication Module
provides the connection to the robot controller.
Figure 5 shows the connections of the KB-based control
and the PROARC system, where the original communica-
tion module of PROARC has been replaced with the KB
control module. This modification will lead to the integra-
tion of more parts into the KB, and then the real features and
power of the integrated KB tool will appear.
229
G2
environnmt
Welding
features
- - °
.. Wor el
~ Knov,led~ based
iv- conlrolsystem
~th MMS interface
There are several possibilities to increase the "intelli-
gence" of the recent PROARC system:
• The similarities between the workpiece families could be
managed and analyzed in a more sophisticated way, even
if this feature is a special one in PROARC. The intelligent
comparison of workpieces in the design phase can assist
in re-using welding settings, or even pieces of robot
program parts.
• The present system already supports the unskilled user by
offering default values of the different welding variables,
but a knowledge-based tool could expand the capacity of
this feature.
• Currently, the system uses only a simple tactile sensor to
provide safe welding. The intelligent evaluation of sensor
information could help in making the system more
reliable, by means of analysis and forecasting proce-
dures.
• The area of the first experiments assists in performing the
control tasks of the system. This means that the
Communication Module of the PROARC system is
completely replaced by the G2-based control with MMS
interface.
As the PROARC is completely PC-based and the
recent G2 version is running on a SUN, some additional
interfacing problems have to be solved, which are not
shown in Fig. 5. The big arrows show the data flow
through the system in the first version; the little ones are
the potential or alternative connections.
7. CONCLUSIONS
The paper deals with intelligent real-time control of FMS.
As examples, the simulation of a real FMS, then a robotics
cell (where the robot is defined as a virtual manufacturing
device (VMD)) and finally an arc-welding robot controlled
by a real-time computer system, are presented. The control
230 GEORGE L. KOV,~CS and JANOS NACSA: KB-CONTROLLED SYSTEMS
software has been i m p l e m e n t e d using a real-time intelligent
e n v i r o n m e n t (G2).
An interfacing p r o b l e m was solved w h e n the G2 system
and the M A P / M M S network were connected to achieve
real-time intelligent control.
These results will be very useful and interesting in the
future, w h e n they will be applied to more c o m p l e x and
sophisticated large-scale manufacturing and assembly sys-
tems which are hard to design and control without using
simulation and expert systems.
Acknowledgements--ThePROARC project (Ref. No. 7831) was partly
supported by the EC, in the framework of Copernicus '93. The authors are
grateful to the partners, the WZL of RWTH Aachen and the University of
Veszpr6m, for their contributions. This work was partly supported by the
Hungarian Research Fund (OTKA), projects T 4122 and T 14549.
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