Flexible manufacturing system

Each Robotic cell or node will be located along a material handling system such as a conveyor or automatic guided vehicle.

Large program files from a main computer usually take about 60 seconds to be down loaded into each instrument or node at the beginning of FMS operation.

The existing IEEE standard protocols do not fully satisfy the real time communication requirements in this environment.

Token bus has a deterministic message delay, but it does not support prioritized access scheme which is needed in FMS communications.

Because of machine failure and malfunction due to heat, dust, and electromagnetic interference is common, a prioritized mechanism and immediate transmission of emergency messages are needed so that a suitable recovery procedure can be applied.