Foresight formulation in innovative production, automation and control systems

Abstract

Purpose - This paper aims to define imminent and future key aspects in innovative production machines and systems but more specifically to focus on the automation and control aspects. Design/methodology/approach - The foresight analysis is based on the state-of-the-art of current manufacturing technologies with a setup of key enabling features and a roadmap research. Findings - The paper finds that more integration of current and future technology development is required to build a strong platform for various applications featured with interoperability, trust, security and protection. Autonomy and close collaboration aspects in machines remain as crucial targets for the near future. An immediate action is required on smart strategies for the design patterns and agents to enable intuitive components for high quality dynamic user interfaces. This will allow rapid configuration and adaptation to new manufacturing tasks with highly improved machine learning. Originality/val ue - The paper describes the future of key aspects required to move the production, automation and control systems forward

Auxiliary Companies of the Horticultural Sector as a Competitiveness Element: The Case of Almeria (Spain)

“…This technology is already being offered as a service in specific applications and it is expected that its use will be extended to all product ranges. This will signify benefits in terms of standardization of quality, improvement in the perception of quality on the part of the customer, and reduction in operation costs [26,27,28].…”

In-Process Atomic-Force Microscopy (AFM) Based Inspection

“…Manufacture of small components with ever increasing accuracy is highly requested in the market of precision systems [ 1 ]. Some nanoscale features are machined with highly requested accuracy and are predicted to reach the subnanometer level in 2020 by Tanigushi [ 2 ].…”

The mobile robot “Little Helper”: Concepts, ideas and working principles

“…space exploration, military operations, home-care and health-care [1]. However, within the industrial field the implementation of mobile robots has been limited, although the needs for intelligent and flexible automation are present [2] [3]. In addition, the necessary technology entities (mobile platforms, robot manipulators, vision and tooling) are, to a large extent, available off-the-shelf components [4] [5].…”

“…In addition, the necessary technology entities (mobile platforms, robot manipulators, vision and tooling) are, to a large extent, available off-the-shelf components [4] [5]. A reason for this is that the manufacturing industries act traditionally and, therefore, have reluctance in taking risks by implementing new technologies [2]. Also within the field of industrial mobile robotics the centre of attention has been on optimization of the individual technologies, especially robot manipulators [6] and tooling [7], while the integration, use and application have been neglected.…”