Industrial robot capability models for agile manufacturing

Purpose This paper aims to represent a capability model for industrial robot as they pertain to assembly tasks. Design/methodology/approach The architecture of a real kit building application is provided to demonstrate how robot capabilities can be used to fully automate the planning of assembly tasks. Discussion on the planning infrastructure is done with the Planning Domain Definition Language (PDDL) for heterogeneous multi robot systems. Findings The paper describes PDDL domain and problem files that are used by a planner to generate a plan for kitting. Discussion on the plan shows that the best robot is selected to carry out assembly actions. Originality/value The author presents a robot capability model that is intended to be used for helping manufacturers to characterize the different capabilities their robots contribute to help the end user to select the appropriate robots for the appropriate tasks, selecting backup robots during robot’s failures to limit the deterioration of the system’s productivity and the products’ quality and limiting robots’ failures and increasing productivity by providing a tool to manufacturers that outputs a process plan that assigns the best robot to each task needed to accomplish the assembly.