A framework for the design of a model-based control system for flexible man
ufacturing is presented in this paper. The system consists of three basic l
ayers: the Task Planning, the Task-Level Programming, and the Simulation la
yer. Task planning is based on the description of operations and their prec
edence relation. The resulting fundamental plan describes the decomposition
of a manufacturing task into an ordered sequence of robot actions. The imp
lementation of the plan is carried out using a task-level programming appro
ach in which the detailed paths and trajectories, gross and fine motion, gr
asping, and sensing instructions, are specified. Plan sequences are verifie
d by using a simulation modeling approach based on hierarchical, modular di
screte-event system specifications.