Collaborative embedded systems - a case study

A collaborative embedded systems (CES) is an intelligent agent in a cyber-physical system which cooperates with others by negotiation to fulfill a common task. In this paper, we consider autonomous transport robots as CES. These robots are used in production environments like factories and storage halls to realize the flow of materials within the production process. We describe the software hierarchy of the agents with self-localization, route planning and job scheduling. Then we discuss implementation strategies and possible benefits of a collaborative approach. Finally, we report on our modeling of the system for simulation and verification.