INTERACTIVE MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE FOR FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

THE INCREASING COMPLEXITY OF FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS (FMS) ARE PUSHING THE HUMAN OPERATOR TO HIS LIMITS, ESPECIALLY IN COGNITIVE-RELATED TASKS. IT IS, THEREFORE, OF PARTICULAR IMPORTANCE TO DEVELOP TECHNIQUES THAT ALLOW THE COMPUTER TO HELP THE HUMAN TO EXTEND THESE LIMITS. AN IMPORTANT CLASS OF SUCH ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES IS AN INTERACTIVE MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE (IMMI); WHICH INTELLIGENTLY SUPPORTS THE HUMAN TO FIND, PROCESS, AND ACT ON THE RICH INFORMATION AVAILABLE. RESEARCHERS ARE BUILDING AN IMMI FOR ADVANCED MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS, BASED ON AN INNOVATIVE COGNITIVE MODELING METHODOLOGY CALLED COGNET (COGNITION AS A NETWORK OF TASKS) AND A CORRESPONDING SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION TECHNIQUE CALLED BATON (BLACKBOARD ARCHITECTURE FOR TASK-ORIENTED NETWORKS). TOGETHER, COGNET AND BATON ALLOW THE BUILDING OF A POWERFUL COMPUTATIONAL MODEL OF THE OPERATOR AND EMBED THIS MODEL IN THE MMI SOFTWARE, THEREBY PROVIDING AN ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT IN AN IMMI FOR FUTURE FMSS. INVESTIGATORS ARE EVALUATING THE APPLICABILITY OF THE COGNET/BATON METHODOLOGY TO ADVANCED MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS, IDENTIFYING CANDIDATE FUNCTIONS AND DEVELOPMENT PLATFORMS FOR THE IMMI, AND BUILDING A RAPID INTERFACE PROTOTYPE OF THE IMMI CONCEPT.