Virtual testing of agile manufacturing software using 3D graphical simulation

The need to rapidly reconfigure an agile manufacturing system makes it especially difficult to test the system´s control software. Although thorough testing is essential for system reliability, the time available for testing may be short. With a simulator, however, the software can be developed and tested independently from the actual workcell, while production continues or the workcell is reconfigured for the next target product. To facilitate testing of agile manufacturing software, a 3D graphical simulator has been developed at Case Western Reserve University. It permits workcell control software to be tested with a virtual workcell, which exhibits much of the behavior of the real workcell. The simulator has been extensively used in the Agile Manufacturing Project at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), and most of the actual control software was tested and debugged with it. Considerable time and effort have been saved by simulating various workcell scenarios, some of which are difficult to create in a real workcell, e.g., device failure. In this paper, the architecture of the graphical simulator is described, and a framework for virtual testing is presented. Actual errors found during virtual testing are also described