Mobile robot, automated production system, and mobile robot system

A production system comprising:

• a production line having a plurality of workstations at each of which one of processes is performed;
• a transportation mechanism transporting a plurality of workpieces along said production line;
• and
• a plurality of mobile robots, each of the mobile robots executing a given operation on the workpiece transported by said transportation mechanism at an assigned one of the workstations, each of the mobile robots including,
• a neighboring robot condition information collecting circuit collecting information indicating whether another of the mobile robots is placed at the neighboring workstation, and
• a determining circuit determining a process to be executed by the each of the mobile robots based on the information collected by said neighboring robot condition information collecting circuit.

A robot system comprising:

• a storage circuit storing a plurality of operation programs for carrying out processes at workstations provided on a given production line;
• a first transmission device transmitting workstation position signals each indicating a position of one of the workstations;
• an output circuit responsive to each of the workstation position signals to output a corresponding one of the operation programs stored in said storage circuit;
• and
• mobile robots each receiving one of the operation programs outputted from said output circuit corresponding to an assigned one of the workstations to take action according to the one of the operation programs.

A method of taking measures against a change in production in production line including workstations at a given one of which a first mobile robot 1 is placed to carry out a given operation comprising:

• a first step of placing a second mobile robot at a selected one of the workstations of the production line according to an increase in production;
• a second step of collecting first information on an operating condition of the first mobile robot;
• a third step of collecting second information on flow of workpieces on said production line;
• and
• a fourth step of determining an operation to be executed by the second mobile robot based on said first and second information.