UML design and AWL programming for reconfigurable control software development of a robotic manipulator

The goal of the presented research is to face the topic of reconfigurable control software development in a concrete fashion, i.e., by presenting a control software system development approach which has been used for a specific, although easy to be generalized, robotized manufacturing cell component. In particular, a methodology for the control software development of a planar robot (2-degrees of freedom) is presented, from the conceptual design to the actual implementation. The methodology suggests UML and object-oriented modeling and programming techniques for the design phase, while AWL programming language run by a PLC for the implementation phase. The analysis has been conducted considering the internal and external requirements of the manufacturing system which comprises the robot, mostly driven by the contemporary industrial need of reconfigurable control systems, critical key to succeed in the new era of mass customization