Scheduling algorithms for optimal robot cell coordination - a comparison

Flexibility is the keyword in the modern industrial world. Automatic generation of collision- and blocking free, time optimal schedules for industrial robot cells is thus motivated. While a lot of attention has been paid to the control of industrial systems, as well as to the development of general optimization algorithms, there is still a need to properly combine these two research areas. This paper discusses two scheduling algorithms, designed for industrial robot cells, in terms of performance. A novel heuristic to an A*-based algorithm, operating on Discrete Event Systems, is proposed and benchmarked against the well-known MILP algorithm.