Re: [OT] What would you do with a dynamic/reconfigurable ISA??

On 5/9/08, Bryan Bishop <kanzure <at> gmail.com> wrote:
> On 5/8/08, Xiaofan Chen <xiaofanc <at> gmail.com> wrote:
> > Since PLC can be programmable, you can 'dynamicly' change the
> >  program if you want. But you may need to reconfigure the
> >  related I/O modules, sensors, actuators, machines. So
> >  in reality, it is not as simple to implement this kind of system.
> >  FMS (flexibible manufacturing system,
> >  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible_manufacturing)
> >  and CIMS (Computer-Integrated Manufacturing Systems)
> >  used to be popular terms but it seems to be fading away.
>
> Interesting. Particularly my project is based around the idea of
> automating manufacturing 'knowledge', kind of like apt-get for
> software except now for more than just software -- packages of all
> sorts, constructable objects and so on. But there's a wide range of
> possible instruments that you can use, and having to re-code every
> single item in the database every time a new tool comes along, seems
> rather inefficient. I was wondering if there'd be a way that I could
> avoid this. Apparently not? Though flexible manufacturing looks ...
> close. No free lunch.

You do not recode for everything. You have your existing
code base. It takes time to build your code base. Once
you have it, you can construct your program by assemble
the modules (I know this is oversimplification).

For the PLC side, some vendors will provide a feature
called "Add-on instruction", i.e., user defined function.
You also have subroutines, etc.

In the C world, you have the standard language
library.

In the higher level system world, you have all
kinds of abstraction. You can use C library,
RTOS, DotNet assembly, Delphi components,
etc.

In the end, you are using your existing
sub-assemblies to assemble a system.
But you need to assemble them. Software
may help (say expert system or wizard) but it
still need you, a human to do the job.

Robots can be quite good in some assembly
lines and can be kind of teach to do flexible
things. But in the end you need to teach them.

Xiaofan
--

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist