Formation of autonomous agent networks for manufacturing systems

Designing flexible manufacturing systems that can cope well with the dynami c environment has been an important goal. The objective of this paper is to describe a modelling approach developed to design a manufacturing system a s a society of autonomous agents--called autonomous agent network (AAN). Wi thin the AAN, autonomous agents are loosely coupled. System's tasks are acc omplished by the autonomous agents collaboratively through the communicatio n and information exchange definitions-protocols. The approach in this pape r consists of autonomous agent formation and protocol formation. Reducing t he degree of uncertainty, reducing the impact of uncertainty, and keeping t he desired level of productivity are the main motivations for forming auton omous agents for manufacturing. By using two basic communication acts, 'req uest' and 'tell', five basic protocols are formed. The five basic protocols can further form specific task-application protocols to define the complex communication among autonomous agents. The methodology is demonstrated wit h an industrial case study. In addition, the validation of the performance in communication, autonomy and flexibility of AANs are also explained in th is paper.