A wasp-based control model for real-time routing of parts in a flexible manufacturing system

• Published in: International journal of computer integrated manufacturing 2008-04, Vol.21 (3), p.259-268
• Main Authors: Meyyappan, L., Soylemezoglu, A., Saygin, C., Dagli, C. H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agent-based systems; Distributed manufacturing control; Distributed multi-agent systems; Flexible manufacturing system (FMS); FMS control; FMS performance evaluation
• ISSN: 0951-192X; 1362-3052
• DOI: 10.1080/09511920701268874

This article presents a self-adaptive, wasp-based control model for real-time part routing in a flexible manufacturing system (FMS). Inspired from the natural system of a wasp colony, the proposed control model is a multi-agent system that exhibits adaptive behaviour. It uses simple rules built on a decentralized architecture and hence it overcomes the drawbacks of traditional agent-based systems, such as long negotiation times among agents. The production problem, which has been previously studied in the literature, includes real-time routing of parts with the objective of minimizing average waiting times and average cycle times in a large FMS that consists of 40 machines. The proposed wasp-based control model is benchmarked via simulation under various experimental conditions against those previously published studies. The simulation study shows that it outperforms the previously reported studies when the production system is heavily loaded and prone to congestion. The self-adaptive nature of the proposed model makes it robust in the presence of such dynamic, unexpected changes occurring in the FMS.