A Mixed-Reality approach to Test Automation Function For Manufacturing Systems

The paper deals with the problem of building a test environment for MES (Manufacturing Execution System) control of manufacturing system. In the paper, the MES control layer has been developed according to agent-based technology inside the Pabadis'Promise Project. The test system is built as a user-defined combination of the real automation components and a 3D graphical simulator. For that reason, it has been named as mixed-reality simulation. The advantage is to allow the system integrator to test some control SW (SoftWare) parts in closed-loop as soon as they become available, and in parallel to proceed with the plant construction. At the beginning the test will be made in simulation, and then some virtual components will be removed and substituted by the real components as soon as they become available. The paper investigates the possibility to automatize this process, and will discuss an application of a real cell producing carter parts for motorbikes.