WADE: an object-oriented environment for modeling and simulation of workcell applications

The authors provide an informal characterization of the process of workcell application design and describe the architecture and implementation of a software environment called WADE (workcell application development) intended to aid a designer of workcell applications. WADE embodies a reasonably general approach for modeling a wide range of industrial equipment, programming them in as powerful a manner as their control languages, simulating workcell applications with multiple programmable and nonprogrammable equipment, and analyzing the performance in flexible ways. Its design is object-oriented and open-ended, suitable for easy experimentation, extension, and refinement. The implementation is based on a modern language called AML/X with object-oriented programming capabilities and a powerful and production-quality solid modeling system called GDP. The authors illustrate the functionality of WADE with two example applications and conclude with a brief discussion of their experiences in designing and building WADE and some issues for consideration in future work