Knowledge based decision support system for the selection of industrial robots

A knowledge based decision support system is described which allows efficient support of rough planning of industrial robots. The heart of rough planning is the determination of industrial robots suitable for a given automation task. The problem is formalized, the requirements on a decision support system are shown and a few aspects of modelling are described. Indeed, each kind of formalization leads to a decrease of intuition but it is evident that the flexibility and the planning margin during the decision process provided by the system developed far exceed the possibilities of a classical procedural system. The time-consuming and therefore also cost intensive decision-making process becomes more efficient with the application of the knowledge based support tool. The frailty of human nature-the quantitatively insufficient ability to generate alternatives and to trace them in parallel-is eliminated; human originality and creativity, however, is hardly restricted. The computer based tool supports human discernment but neither can nor wants to replace it