Abstract
The programmable sequence‐control systems used for most of the industrial robots available at the present time are basically simple and straight‐forward. While these are very desirable attributes for any system which has to achieve reliability in the performance of a repetitive task on the shop floor, there can be attendant disadvantages. Although most of the current systems are flexible enough to allow for fairly easy re‐programming by a human operator, this flexibility does not in general extend to the inclusion of any facilities for control adaptation to slight and possibly quite random changes in either the operational requirements or in the operational environment. The features of flexibility and adaptability, so obvious and so useful in the human operator, are notably absent from robot control systems.
Subject
Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering,Computer Science Applications,Control and Systems Engineering