A method for automation software design of mechatronic systems in manufacturing

The fast globalization process of the last decade required companies to optimize internal processes. Additionally, customers requirements are becoming more and more specific, requiring strong customization. In the mechatronic field, the automation software development takes a wide percentage of the overall designing time, due to the lack of structured design processes (specially for small systems) and code reuse. This paper aims to define a first structured approach for the automation software development of small manufacturing systems. The proposed solution is based on concepts like modularization and encapsulation, trying to build a one-to-one relationship between the physical mechatronic object and its control software module. Each module embeds the control software and other information related to the HMI, the documentation and the risk assessment. The introduced method has been implemented on a real small manufacturing system (an industrial manipulator). The components that form the device have been identified and implemented as modules. The design phase becomes, then, a drag and drop composition of such modules, controlled by a state machine that describes the working cycle of the device.