Design and implementation of a low cost control system for a manufacturing cell

This paper presents the design, generation and implementation of low cost control system for a manufacturing cell. The modeling and control of manufacturing systems using supervisory control theory (SCT) is discussed. Using the technique of SCT, controllers can be built according to operational specifications. A structure control implemented in low-cost physical platforms is presented. According to the level of control, micro-controllers or small-size PLC are used. A communication interface is proposed to establish rules of sending and receiving of events among different hardware. In order to demonstrate the usefulness of this approach, an educational testbed is used to simulate an automated manufacturing system.