FLIP: a platform to integrate embodied agent technology

Flexibility and adaptability are essential properties of intelligent manufacturing systems. However, it is a major challenge to realize these properties and it is expensive to develop prototypes that are authentic and at the same time useful with respect to integration of state-of-the-art technologies in the area of agents and artificial intelligence. The use of cheap and flexible, yet realistic platforms is a necessity if we want to overcome these challenges. In this paper we present a flexible platform for prototyping multi-agent systems consisting of a heterogeneous set of cooperating robots. We present the diverse technologies that make up the prototype and address the issue of integrating such technologies into a general agent architecture. We finally evaluate on the experimental results based on a set of criteria that we believe have major significance in the context of flexible manufacturing systems.