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Controllers are the (3D) representation of the devices that manage (control) the different resources, or other controllers, in their operation tasks. All handling activities are under the supervision of the controller, where the controller manages only single resources, like in a manufacturing unit, or manages multiple resources and other controllers at once, like in a work cell or manufacturing line.
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The managing instructions of a controller are stored in controller programs. They can be either logical or numerical.
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Numerical controllers have a motion planner inclusive the inverse kinematic computation to calculate the behaviour of a kinematic resource. These controllers are called Unit Controller.
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Logical controllers operate with signals only to trigger other logical controllers or unit controllers.
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There is not just one controller. Controllers need to support different program languages because of the variety of operations they need to manage and because of the diversity in manufacturing equipment and their manufacturers that is used in the work cell or production line. The controller programs can be distinguished between backup and project programs. The backup programs are static on the controller and independent of the project. These are the controller sub-routines, definition of global variables, etc. The project files are linked to a job on a work piece.
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Controllers have an electrical (parent) adapter plug. The resources and other controllers that need to be managed are connected to the controller through an electrical link to establish the communication lines. Their electrical child adapter is plugged into the parent adapter of the main controller. At start up of a simulation the controller analysis the resources and controllers, which are plugged in, to manage the communication with them. This communication is based on signals of the type boolean, integer, real, matrix and string to drive actors and to receive feedback signals.
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