Distributed Adaptive Control: An Ideal
Cognitive Architecture Candidate for Managing
a Robotic Recycling Plant
Oscar Guerrero Rosado 1,2(B) and Paul F. M. J. Verschure 1,2,3
1 Laboratory of Synthetic Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems (SPECS),
Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Barcelona, Spain
oguerreros@ibecbarcelona.eu
2 Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain
3 Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
Abstract. In the past decade, society has experienced notable growth in a variety
of technological areas. However, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has not been
embraced yet. Industry 4.0 imposes several challenges which include the necessity of new architectural models to tackle the uncertainty that open environments
represent to cyber-physical systems (CPS). Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) recycling plants stand for one of such open environments. Here,
CPSs must work harmoniously in a changing environment, interacting with similar and not so similar CPSs, and adaptively collaborating with human workers. In
this paper, we support the Distributed Adaptive Control (DAC) theory as a suitable
Cognitive Architecture for managing a recycling plant. Specifically, a recursive
implementation of DAC (between both single-agent and large-scale levels) is proposed to meet the expected demands of the European Project HR-Recycler. Additionally, with the aim of having a realistic benchmark for future implementations
of the recursive DAC, a micro-recycling plant prototype is presented.
Keywords: Cognitive architecture · Distributed Adaptive Control · Recycling
plant · Navigation · Motor control · Human-Robot Interaction
1 Introduction
Designing a cutting-edge industrial plant in 2020 is a great challenge. Despite the notable
growth in a variety of technological areas in the past decade, including Cyber-Physical
Systems (CPS), Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, embedded systems, Industrial
Integration and Industrial Information Integration, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has
not been embraced yet.
Strategic initiatives such as Industrie 4.0 (Germany, 2013) and Made-in-China 2025
(China, 2015) represents firm steps toward such a revolution that aims to go further
in automation, focusing on end-to-end digitisation and integration of digital industrial
ecosystems [1]. Industry 4.0, which is broadly seen as quasi-synonym of Fourth Industrial Revolution, seeks the combination of the following emerging technologies: a) CPS,
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
V. Vouloutsi et al. (Eds.): Living Machines 2020, LNAI 12413, pp. 153–164, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64313-3_16
Cognitive Architecture Candidate for Managing
a Robotic Recycling Plant
Oscar Guerrero Rosado 1,2(B) and Paul F. M. J. Verschure 1,2,3
1 Laboratory of Synthetic Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems (SPECS),
Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Barcelona, Spain
oguerreros@ibecbarcelona.eu
2 Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain
3 Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
Abstract. In the past decade, society has experienced notable growth in a variety
of technological areas. However, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has not been
embraced yet. Industry 4.0 imposes several challenges which include the necessity of new architectural models to tackle the uncertainty that open environments
represent to cyber-physical systems (CPS). Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) recycling plants stand for one of such open environments. Here,
CPSs must work harmoniously in a changing environment, interacting with similar and not so similar CPSs, and adaptively collaborating with human workers. In
this paper, we support the Distributed Adaptive Control (DAC) theory as a suitable
Cognitive Architecture for managing a recycling plant. Specifically, a recursive
implementation of DAC (between both single-agent and large-scale levels) is proposed to meet the expected demands of the European Project HR-Recycler. Additionally, with the aim of having a realistic benchmark for future implementations
of the recursive DAC, a micro-recycling plant prototype is presented.
Keywords: Cognitive architecture · Distributed Adaptive Control · Recycling
plant · Navigation · Motor control · Human-Robot Interaction
1 Introduction
Designing a cutting-edge industrial plant in 2020 is a great challenge. Despite the notable
growth in a variety of technological areas in the past decade, including Cyber-Physical
Systems (CPS), Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, embedded systems, Industrial
Integration and Industrial Information Integration, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has
not been embraced yet.
Strategic initiatives such as Industrie 4.0 (Germany, 2013) and Made-in-China 2025
(China, 2015) represents firm steps toward such a revolution that aims to go further
in automation, focusing on end-to-end digitisation and integration of digital industrial
ecosystems [1]. Industry 4.0, which is broadly seen as quasi-synonym of Fourth Industrial Revolution, seeks the combination of the following emerging technologies: a) CPS,
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
V. Vouloutsi et al. (Eds.): Living Machines 2020, LNAI 12413, pp. 153–164, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64313-3_16