A structured methodology for the design and implementation of control and supervision systems for robotic applications

Abstract

The adoption of a structured development methodology, based on a design cycle and on formal reference models, is a key issue to manage, possibly in a step-by-step fashion, the design of industrial control and supervision systems, as there are in modern robotic applications. In the present work, a development technique is illustrated, which extends some of the most relevant solutions and methods used to effectively deal with the design of complex control systems and integrates them into a structured methodology with analysis and simulation facilities. The main discriminating features of the presented framework are: the objectoriented approach, compliance with international standards for control software specification, hybrid dynamic models and automatic code generation. The development and implementation of a robot mission for a six degree-of-freedom manipulator is illustrated to highlight the benefits and advantages of the proposed methodology.Index Terms-Computer-aided control system design, development methodology, hybrid models, international standards, objectoriented paradigm, robot control.

Towards automation of control software: A review of challenges in mechatronic design

“…From these, a cost function can be derived, and subsequently the controller (e.g., PID or Model Predictive Control) can be (semi) automatically designed and tuned using existing software tools, e.g., the control system toolbox in Matlab. Our proposed approach is similar to the Control Design Method (CDM) [72], which fills the gap between the functional design and the final implementation. In the framework proposed here, however, the control system and the plant model are developed in parallel, as appears in Fig.…”

“…RBP should increase development productivity and the quality of the generated code by automatically performing verification of the software, which is supported by an approach that ensures that the application can be fully traced back to the initial requirements of the system. A more direct link between (functional) requirements and software has been achieved by the use of the Functional Block computer-aided design environment [72]. The prototype tool can be used to design and analyze reusable high-level control software components and to generate run-time code for distributed control systems.…”

Control architecture for a supervised industrial robotic workcell integration

“…Open architectures assure the adaptability and interoperability that support the information exchange between devices [14]. In [15] open and modular automation system architecture for reconfigurable factory is proposed. This methodology is based in modeling techniques and standards.…”

Enabling agile manufacturing through reconfigurable control solutions

“…The adoption of the IEC 61499 standard as formal reference model enhances the definition of reusable models, since the principles of modularity, encapsulation and standardization of interfaces are strongly exploited [9]. In fact, the encapsulation of the control functionalities into a network of interconnected function blocks provides an effective high-level view of the application, supporting agile integration (re)use of the developed control solutions.…”