Microcomputer Control of a Robotic Arm in a Distributed Computing Environment

Current trends in automation indicate a proliferation of programmable robotic arms in manufacturing plants. These arms typically have small local control computers and also are tied into larger computer systems for purposes of coordination and global control. This paper (1) analyzes such networks in terms of the principles of hierarchically intelligent control, (2) derives some design principles for a local control node in such network and (3) reports the implementation details and results for a prototype microcomputer control node.