Cloud-assisted interaction and negotiation of industrial robots for the smart factory

Industrial robots such as robotic arms and AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles) are widely used in the manufacturing environment to perform various kinds of tasks. However, these industrial robots are designed for traditional production lines which need little interaction and negotiation. As a result, current robots are not suitable for the emerging smart factory in the era of industry 4.0, which features high interconnection, dynamic reconfiguration, mass data, and deep integration. In this paper, a solution using the cloud to assist inter-layer interaction and inter-robot negotiation for smart factory is presented. First, a multi-layer framework is proposed consisting of robots, cloud, and client terminals, and these components are interconnected via networks. Second, the interaction process between components across multi-layers is described. Third, intelligent negotiation mechanism for robots to implement self-organized dynamic reconfiguration is designed, especially for the hybrid production of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tagged products, which is a flexible and economical configuration for the production of multi-type and small-lot products. Finally, a prototype system for a candy-packing application supporting customization is presented to verify the proposed framework, interaction method, and negotiation mechanism.