Simulation of an evolutionary tuned fuzzy dispatching system for automated guided vehicles

Abstract

This paper presents the development and simulation of a novel Genetic Algorithm (GA) based methodology applied to optimal tuning of a fuzzy dispatching system for a fleet of automated guided vehicles in a flexible manufacturing environment. The dispatching rules are further transformed into a continuously adaptive procedure to capitalize the online information available from a shop floor at all times. The entire problem is simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK. The simulation results obtained show that GA is an efficient and effective tool to achieve optimal performance for the well-known NP-complete scheduling problem.