Flowgraph techniques in workcell assessment and design

A number of methods for obtaining useful data from flowgraph representations of robot workcell networks, including error recovery loops, are presented. The application of some of the techniques normally found in electrical network analysis and simulation systems is discussed together with the results of some simple experiments. A useful technique for estimating overall performance improvements of a process due to various parameter changes is introduced. Specifically, changes in overall performance due to variations in time and efficiency parameters can be estimated using isochronic plots. This provides a useful tool in choosing processes and error recovery routines