Smart Agents For The Industry 4 0

Max Hoffmann describes the realization of a framework that enables autonomous decision-making in industrial manufacturing processes by means of multi-agent systems and the OPC UA meta-modeling standard. The integration of communication patterns and SOA with grown manufacturing systems enables an upgrade of legacy environments in terms of Industry 4.0 related technologies. The added value of the derived solutions are validated through an industrial use case and verified by the development of a demonstrator that includes elements of self-optimization through Machine Learning and communication with high-level planning systems such as ERP. About the Author: Dr.-Ing. Max Hoffmann is a scientific researcher at the Institute of Information Management in Mechanical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Germany, and leads the group “Industrial Big Data”. His research emphasizes on production optimization by means of data integration through interoperability and communication standards for industrial manufacturing and integrated analysis by using Machine Learning and stream-based information processing.

This book describes the next generation of industry—Industry 4.0—and how it holds the promise of increased flexibility in manufacturing, along with automation, better quality, and improved productivity. The authors discuss how it thus enables companies to cope with the challenges of producing increasingly individualized products with a short lead-time to market and higher quality. The authors posit that intelligent cloud services and resource sharing play an important role in Industry 4.0 anticipated Fourth Industrial Revolution. This book serves the different issues and challenges in cloud resource management CRM techniques with proper propped solution for IT organizations. The book features chapters based on the characteristics of autonomic computing with its applicability in CRM. Each chapter features the techniques and analysis of each mechanism to make better resource management in cloud.

This book contains the works connected with the key advances in Industrial Artificial Intelligence presented at IITI 2023, the Seventh International Scientific Conference on Intelligent Information Technologies for Industry held on September 25-30, 2023 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The works were written by the experts in the field of applied artificial intelligence including topics such as Machine Learning, Explainable AI, Decision-Making, Fuzzy Logic, Multi-Agent and Bioinspired Systems. The following industrial application domains were touched: railway automation, cyber security, intelligent medical systems, navigation and energetic systems. The editors believe that this book will be helpful for all scientists and engineers interested in the modern state of applied artificial intelligence.

The scientific theme of the book is “Virtualisation – a multifaceted key enabler of Industry 4.0 from holonic to cloud manufacturing” which is addressed in the framework of cyber-physical system development. The book approaches cyber-physical systems for manufacturing with emergent digital technologies: Internet of Things, digital twins (based on the virtualization of production models embedded in the design, virtual commissioning, optimization and resilience of processes and fault tolerance of resources), big data, cloud control and computing, machine learning and cobots, that are applied in the book’s chapters to industry and service sectors such as manufacturing, energy, logistics, construction and health care. The novelty of this approach consists in interpreting and applying the characteristics of RAMI4.0—the reference architecture model of the Industry 4.0 framework—as combinations of virtualized cyber-physical system elements and IT components in life cycle value stream models. The general scope of the book is to foster innovation in smart and sustainable manufacturing and logistics systems and in this context to promote concepts, methods and solutions for the digital transformation of manufacturing through service orientation in holonic and agent-based control with distributed intelligence. The book’s readership is comprised by researchers and engineers working in the manufacturing value chain area who develop and use digital control solutions in the “Industry of the Future” vision. The book also addresses to master’s and Ph.D. students enrolled in Engineering Sciences programs.

The book highlights new trends and challenges in research on agents and the new digital and knowledge economy. It includes papers on business process management, agent-based modeling and simulation and anthropic-oriented computing that were originally presented at the 14th International KES Conference on Agents and Multi-Agent Systems: Technologies and Applications (KES-AMSTA 2020), being held as a Virtual Conference in June 17–19, 2020. The respective papers cover topics such as software agents, multi-agent systems, agent modeling, mobile and cloud computing, big data analysis, business intelligence, artificial intelligence, social systems, computer embedded systems and nature inspired manufacturing, all of which contribute to the modern digital economy.

This book is intended to help management and other interested parties such as engineers, to understand the state of the art when it comes to the intersection between AI and Industry 4.0 and get them to realise the huge possibilities which can be unleashed by the intersection of these two fields. We have heard a lot about Industry 4.0, but most of the time, it focuses mainly on automation. In this book, the authors are going a step further by exploring advanced applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques, ranging from the use of deep learning algorithms in order to make predictions, up to an implementation of a full-blown Digital Triplet system. The scope of the book is to showcase what is currently brewing in the labs with the hope of migrating these technologies towards the factory floors. Chairpersons and CEOs must read these papers if they want to stay at the forefront of the game, ahead of their competition, while also saving huge sums of money in the process.

This book introduces the concept of sensing, smart and sustainable systems (S3 systems) to support the design and redesign of products, services, business and manufacturing processes, manufacturing systems, and enterprises. The concept of S3 systems theory is introduced and explained in detail to support designers and engineers in their development task. This approach is embraced in the implementation of emergent Information and communication technologies and artificial intelligence techniques. The text helps the reader to understand the relationship between intelligent manufacturing, S3 systems and Industry 4.0. It presents a review of current approaches to design and development of technology-based products. Finally, it enlarges on the sensing, smart and sustainable systems theory to give examples of S3 systems as case studies.

Modern factories are experiencing rapid digital transformation supported by emerging technologies, such as the Industrial Internet of things (IIOT), industrial big data and cloud technologies, deep learning and deep analytics, AI, intelligent robotics, cyber-physical systems and digital twins, complemented by visual computing (including new forms of artificial vision with machine learning, novel HMI, simulation, and visualization). This is evident in the global trend of Industry 4.0. The impact of these technologies is clear in the context of high-performance manufacturing. Important improvements can be achieved in productivity, systems reliability, quality verification, etc. Manufacturing processes, based on advanced mechanical principles, are enhanced by big data analytics on industrial sensor data. In current machine tools and systems, complex sensors gather useful data, which is captured, stored, and processed with edge, fog, or cloud computing. These processes improve with digital monitoring, visual data analytics, AI, and computer vision to achieve a more productive and reliable smart factory. New value chains are also emerging from these technological changes. This book addresses these topics, including contributions deployed in production, as well as general aspects of Industry 4.0.