Automation Department Seminar

Title: Modeling and Monitoring of Automated Guided Vehicles in Flexible Manufacturing Environments

Abstract: Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are increasingly used in flexible manufacturing systems to improve the efficiency of material handling and increase production flexibility. They enable the automated transport of materials between workstations, thereby reducing manual labor and improving workflow responsiveness.

Using FlexSim simulation, it is possible to model and monitor AGV operations to evaluate performance metrics such as travel time, utilization rate, and system congestion. This simulation-based approach enables the optimization of AGV routes, fleet size, and planning decisions prior to actual implementation.

Consequently, integrating AGVs with monitoring in FlexSim promotes more efficient and adaptable manufacturing systems and advances Industry 4.0. A case study in a hospital setting will also be presented.

Short biography: Dr. Gabriela de Mattos Veroneze is an associate professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the Federal University of Amazonas (BR).

She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (BR) and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Cruzeiro do Sul University, and earned her Ph.D. from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCA&T).

Her research areas include product and process development, production, and operations research. She currently serves as associate editor of the Operations Research section at ABEPRO.

Title:Fault-Tolerant Control of Switching Systems in the Event of Sensor and Actuator Failures

Abstract: Switching systems have attracted considerable interest in recent years due to their ability to model a wide range of physical and technical processes. These systems consist of several subsystems governed by a switching mechanism, thus forming an important class of hybrid systems.

One of their main advantages lies in their ability to guarantee closed-loop stability, even when some subsystems are unstable. However, switched systems remain vulnerable to sensor and actuator failures, particularly when the switching rule depends on the system’s state. In such cases, failures can compromise the switching logic, leading to degraded performance or even instability.

To address these challenges, this work proposes a fault-tolerant control (FTC) strategy based on the fault-masking paradigm, which handles simultaneous sensor and actuator failures to ensure asymptotic stability.

Short biography: Renan Landau Paiva De Medeiros earned a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) in Brazil in 2013, 2014, and 2018, respectively.

He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at UFAM. He has experience in electrical engineering, particularly in the automation and control of industrial and electrical systems, as well as in multivariable robust control and its applications.

Since 2017, he has been a full-time researcher at e-CONTROLS, a research group specializing in dynamic and control systems, with a particular focus on power system control. His research areas include microgrid applications, nonlinear control, robust multivariable control, and the design of robust controllers.