Device driver development and implementation for work cell control

Industry's move towards automated manufacturing has been rapid during this decade. In a typical flexible manufacturing environment, a variety of automated manufacturing equipment is linked together with a communication network and a part transportation system. Since vendors of automation equipment have no communication standards to adhere to, integrating these machines becomes a problem.

This project addressed the problem by creating a software interface between robots, CNC machines and a workcell controller. The library of functions created for the Dyna CNC machine and the IBM 7545/7547 robots will aid the future user to create software for the workcell. By using the library functions, a user will be insulated from the lower level functioning of the machines and need only be concerned about the operation of these functions.