New Automation System Doesn't Stop Even When Something Goes Wrong

The problem with automation systems is that whenever it encounters a single small error, it stops working. And it stops the functioning of the entire thing. Giving more power to the machines, Automation Scientists Fredrik Danielsson and Bo Svensson from the University West in Sweden developed a new automation system that lets the robots take its own decisions and tackle errors without disrupting any task being executed. Interestingly, they have made it very easy to reprogram this automation system and vary the equipment or the end manufactured product.

The reason for the improper interruption of current automation systems is that they work on hierarchy. There is a master control system that tells its subordinates what to do and when to do it. To eliminate that, the researchers made the all their machines work independently by listening to their own small intelligent program, and not to an external agent.

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For a demo, they performed a test on an automated production line that had three kinds of robots  - metal cutting machines, a transportation system, a material handling system and a measuring station. So now when someone puts a sheet of metal, the machine knows that it must drill. If one sheet is lost, the system will work with other sheets. The operator can even insert new things in the middle of the flow without disturbing the system.

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