Emergence of intelligence in next-generation manufacturing systems

In the paper we propose a fundamental shift from the present manufacturing concepts and problem solving approaches towards new manufacturing paradigms involving phenomena such as emergence, intelligence, non-determinism, complexity, self-organization, bottom-up organization, and coexistence with the ecosystem. In the first part of the paper we study the characteristics of the past and the present manufacturing concepts and the problems they caused. According to the analogy with the terms in cognitive psychology four types of problems occurring in complex manufacturing systems are identified. Then, appropriateness of various intelligent systems for solving of these four types of problems is analyzed. In the second part of the paper, we study two completely different problems. These two problems are (1) identification of system in metal forming industry and (2) autonomous robot system in manufacturing environment. A genetic-based approach that imitates integration of living cells into tissues, organs, and organisms is used. The paper clearly shows how the state of the stable global order (i.e., the intelligence) of the overall system gradually emerges as a result of low-level interactions between entities of which the system consists and the environment. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.