Current major roadmapping efforts have all clearly underlined that true industrialsustainability will require far higher levels of systems’ autonomy and adaptability. In accordance withthese recommendations, the Evolvable Production Systems (EPS) has aimed at developing suchtechnological solutions and support mechanisms. Since its inception in 2002 as a next generation ofproduction systems, the concept is being further developed and tested to emerge as a production systemparadigm. The essence of evolvability resides not only in the ability of system components to adapt to thechanging conditions of operation, but also to assist in the evolution of these components in time such thatprocesses may become self-evolvable, self-reconfigurable, self-tuning, self-diagnosing, etc.Characteristically, Evolvable systems have distributed control, and are composed of intelligent moduleswith embedded control. To assist the development and life cycle issues, a comprehensive methodologicalframework is being developed. A concerted effort is being exerted through European research projects incollaboration with European manufacturers, technology/equipment suppliers, and universities. Afterbriefly stating the fundamental concepts of EPS, this paper presents current developments and applications.
展开▼
