In a Cooperating Knowledge Based System (CKBS) an agent is modelled as an autonomous and cooperative knowledge based system, capable of executing some task in the most effective way, using an engineering paradigm. The paper presents an abstract CKBS model which, using Holonic Manufacturing Systems (HMS) as an application domain. HMS is a major international project on agent-based manufacturing, where a holon is a unit of production and is a type of agent, cooperating with other agents in task sharing. An implementation of this architecture (HMS/FB architecture) is being defined in the HMS project, using the concept of Function Block (FB) from the IEC Standard IEC61499.
This paper investigates three areas of the model in three parts (a) highly distributed architecture for systems robustness (and fault-tolerance), (b) a cooperation environment for systems effectiveness and (c) a computational model for systems correctness and stability.
Keywords: Holonic Manufacturing System, Multi-agent System, Cooperating Knowledge Based System, Computational Model, Agent Technology.