Abstract
A holonic fixturing system : HOLOFIX, to autonomously and cooperatively execute fixturing works of a workpiece is described and evaluated in this paper. HOLOFIX is developed by applying the concept of a holonic manufacturing system : HMS. All of elements in the system are holons, which comprise a black board and sub-holons and composed of a hierarchical structure : a holarchy. A holon can carry out tasks with other holons in autonomous and cooperative works. The effectiveness of a holonic system is clarified by experiments with a developed test bed of HOLOFIX; the black board communication system realizes autonomous and cooperative works between holons, and a workpiece is fixed on a pallet without giving sequential tasks like a program.
