Influences of robot maintenance and failures in the performance of a multirobot system

Abstract

In a multirobot system (MRS) several robots can operate simultaneously on the same product, and allow the accomplishment of tasks that a single robot could not approach due to restrictions associated to the product and/or the robot. We propose a MRS consisting of three robots and four different working platforms, that allows the characteristics of joint operation to be maintained even if a robot is out of service. In order to make a detailed analysis of the operating characteristics of the MRS we propose to use timed Petri nets (GSPN and DSPN), than allow the efficiency of the system to be evaluated. This paper analyses the influence of the robot maintenance and failures on the throughput of an MRS, under different conditions of operative configuration, number of subtasks, degree of interference, operation mode on the product, etc.