Physiologically-inspired self-regulation for Factory Automation

Many Factory Automation Systems (FASs) are been increasingly required to provide 24/7 in-service operation. This demands increasingly-higher levels of autonomy, and makes FAS control architectures include extra regulating capabilities in order to deal with long-term but also non-stop operations. Continuous assurance of effectively-coordinated adaptation to unpredictable internal and external changes is essential, and the good use of resources becomes critical since an inadequate management of them ultimately ends up in an inefficient energy use. This paper presents aspects on how to endow FASs with artificial nervous reflexes through applying physiology principles to their control architecture. Thus, the FAS autonomy can be reinforced by means of resilience, and greenness in order to achieve persistence. A case study of a generic FAS that supports artificial homeostasis is presented. The reflex-driven adaptation mechanisms studied in the FAS guarantees the self-regulation of the operation temperature (thermoregulation), operation speed, and energy consumption. Simulation results from a FAS dynamics model based on the cross-checked analysis of parameters, and future research direction are also presented.