Emulation of modular manufacturing machines

A method for geometrically modelling and emulating modular machines based on the Universal Machine Control reference architecture is described. Geometric modelling is achieved through extensions to a proprietary robot simulation system. A library of modules consisting of 1, 2 or 3 degree of freedom manipulators is used to construct models of multi-degree of freedom distributed machines with appropriate kinematic characteristics. Logging of data from the real or emulated control handlers is then used to drive the geometric model. A case study of a printed circuit board assembly machine is used to demonstrate how this approach allows the investigation of machine performance before and during the building of the machine with real hardware elements.