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Distributed Programming and Coordination for Agent-Based Modular Automation

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Abstract

A promising approach to enabling the rapid deployment and reconfiguration of automated assembly systems is to make use of cooperating, modular, robust robotic agents. Within such an environment, each robotic agent will execute its own program, while coordinating with peers to produce globaly cooperative precision behavior. To simplify the problem of agent programming, the structure of those programs is carefully designed to enable the automatic encapsulation of information necessary for execution during distribution. Similarly, the programming model incorporates structures for the compact specification and robust execution of potentially complex and fragile cooperative behaviors. These behaviors utilize a run-time environment that includes tools to automatically sequence the activities of an agent. Taken together, these abstractions enable a programmer to compactly describe the high-level behavior of the agent while relying on a set of formally correct control strategies to properly execute and sequence the necessary continuous behaviors.

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© 2000 Springer-Verlag London

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Rizzi, A.A., Gowdy, J., Hollis, R.L. (2000). Distributed Programming and Coordination for Agent-Based Modular Automation. In: Hollerbach, J.M., Koditschek, D.E. (eds) Robotics Research. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0765-1_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0765-1_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-1254-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-0765-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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