Divide & conquer in planning for self-optimizing mechatronic systems - A first application example

Self-optimizing mechatronic systems are a new class of technical system promising new levels of flexibility and utility in electro-mechanical systems. Planning is an important method to realize self-optimization, although today hardly used in mechatronics. In this context, planning is understood as search for a feasible sequence of operations which implements the execution of specific job assigned to a system. This search is a complex and time-consuming task. Hence, it is desirable to decompose the planning task into smaller sub problems according to paradigm of divide & conquer and use problem specific solution methods. Unfortunately, possible planning sub problems in mechatronic systems cannot be considered isolated since sub modules influence each other. This paper introduces the application of a multi-agent-planning model based on cooperative objective functions that enable the coordinated solution of sub problems.