Towards ontology-based automated disassembly systems

The disassembly of products is a key process in the treatment of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. When performed efficiently, it enables the maximization of resources re-usage and a minimization of pollution. However, currently employed automation solutions are mainly custom-oriented and not quite suited to cope with the dynamic nature of the disassembly environment resulting from the wide variety of products to be disassembled as well as their general shape at their disposal (e.g., scratches and fractions). To overcome these limitations we present an ontology-based automated disassembly system that integrates distributed multiagent based machine control as well as vision-based real-time path planning and robot automation. On the one side, the usage of ontologies in combination with intelligent agents provides the system with agility and the ability to autonomously perform soft-and hardware modifications in order to perform a particular activity (e.g., by selecting a specific tool). On the other side, the flexible semantic coupling of the ontology with the vision system supports the “understanding” of the captured image and enables an automated and robust realization of the individual disassembly operations as well as their coordination.