Abstract: A method for determining possible transitions of system states in an industrial system with a plurality of agents with discrete agent states. The method comprises the steps of defining a plurality of rules, each rule comprising a pre-condition of at least one agent state that is to be changed, a post-condition of the at least one agent state, and an action or actions resulting in a corresponding transition of the at least one agent state; defining a plurality of nodes, each node comprising a system state; and evaluating for a plurality of pairs of nodes, whereby one node of each pair acts as a pre- condition node and the other node of each pair acts as a post-condition node, whether the pair can, given the rules, be directly connected by an edge, each edge comprising an action or actions required for a transition between the respective pre- and post-condition system states.

Abstract: A method of controlling an industrial system including at least one agent, the method including providing a representation of the industrial system as a finite state machine, the state machine including a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges, where each node represents a discrete system state of the industrial system, each edge represents an action for a state transition between system states represented by two of the nodes, and at least one execution value is associated with at least one of the edges; executing at least one action by the at least one agent, the at least one action being represented by at least one of the edges; and modifying at least one execution value associated with at least one of the edges representing the at least one executed action, based on an outcome of the at least one executed action.

Abstract: A method for determining possible transitions of system states in an industrial system with a plurality of agents with discrete agent states. The method includes the step of defining a plurality of rules, each rule having a pre-condition of at least one agent state that is to be changed, a post-condition of the at least one agent state, and an action or actions resulting in a corresponding transition of the at least one agent state. The method further includes the step of defining a plurality of nodes, each node having a system state. The method further includes the step of and evaluating for a plurality of pairs of nodes, whereby one node of each pair acts as a pre-condition node and the other node of each pair acts as a post-condition node, whether the pair can, given the rules, be directly connected by means of an edge. Each edge includes an action or actions required for a transition between the respective pre- and post-condition system states.

Abstract: In a robot system including at least two manipulators with a common work area, a method for optimizing a work cycle having the steps of: defining a layout; and dividing the common work area between the at least two manipulators to thereby obtain a work area division. At least one of the previous steps is repeated to thereby obtain a plurality of different combinations of layouts and work area divisions. For each of the plurality of combinations, a cycle time for at least one work cycle is calculated. By calculating cycle times for work cycles on different combinations of layouts and work area divisions, the work area division becomes part of the optimization problem and a better optimized work cycle can be achieved.