Systems, devices, and methods for allocation of workpiece transfers in multi-machine, multi-process production systems

Abstract

Some devices, systems, and methods receive a production-system description that describes respective operations that can be performed on workpieces by each of a plurality of machines and that describes capabilities of one or more robots to transfer the workpieces to and from each of the plurality of machines; receive a process description that describes at least one sequence of process operations to be performed on a workpiece; construct a plurality of transfer chains by recursively generating transfer chains based on a production-system state, the process description, and on the production-system description; and select a particular transfer chain of the plurality of transfer chains based on one or more selection criteria.