Development demands for robotized manufacturing systems

Software tools for planning and simulations of robotized systems are commercially available and more and more used in industry. The intention of using these tools is to support the whole procedure form the selection of the robots and workcell components, the generation of all task programs down to the execution of the manufacturing task in the real workcell at the shopfloor. Additionally methods and tools concerning measurements, calibration, monitoring and diagnosis have to be considered. Today not all of the necessary steps for planning, implementing, operating and maintaining robotized manufacturing systems are adequately considered. In this article the principle demands for future developments are stated. Furthermore the R and D work which has been performed in this connection by the European Strategic Programme for Research and Development in Information Technology (ESPRIT), will be described on the basis of a few selected projects.