Patent ID: 11953888
Assignee: FESTO SE &CO. KG
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B  G

Claim 4:
5. A method for programming a production cell, comprising the steps of
providing a production module, the production module comprising: a work area with at least one Hardware Module that is configured to interact with a product; and an interface section, the interface comprising: at least one power connector for providing power to the production module; and at least one communication interface, wherein the production module is configured to be connected to a production cell by connecting the power connector to corresponding connectors of the production cell, wherein the production module is associated with a respective procedural component that defines actions that can be performed by the production module plugged in the production cell and by at least one robot or manipulator of the production cell;
connecting the production module to an offline programming environment, wherein the offline programming environment duplicates a subset of the features of the production cell;
providing the at least one robot or manipulator;
accepting user input that defines actions by Hardware Modules of the production module and the at least one robot or manipulator;
performing, in the offline programming environment, these actions by these Hardware Modules acting on products;
storing a representation of these actions as stored actions in a data store;
connecting the production module or a functionally identical production module into a production cell;
retrieving the stored actions from the data store; and
performing, in the production cell, by the production module connected to the production cell and by the at least one robot or manipulator of the production cell, the stored actions,
wherein information about a status of the Hardware Module is stored in association with an identity of the Hardware Module in the data store, wherein the respective procedural components are stored in the data store, and wherein the status and the respective procedural components, together with the actions performed by the Hardware Module are retrieved in the case of failure and used to determine other Hardware Modules that can take over all or part of the tasks of the failed Hardware Module.