Integration of CAPP and CAFD based on agent technology

This study intends to propose an intelligent system with agent technology in order to realize integration of computer-aided process planning (CAPP) and computer-aided fixture design (CAFD). The agent-based system framework, in which various intelligent agents worked together to perform process planning and fixture design tasks in an autonomous and collaborative way, was put forward. The system consisted of two categories of agents and functional definition of each intelligent agent was presented. Moreover, communication mechanism and XML-based information exchange method between agents were proposed. Finally, an intelligent algorithm based on fuzzy comprehensive evaluation was designed to resolve competition conflicts between agents.