Open modes between real and virtual manufacturing devices

Present virtual manufacturing techniques have two principal problems. First, virtual simulators confined to computers have limitations in correctly reflecting the real world's states. This fact restricts the advantages of virtual manufacturing systems. Second, two representative approaches for virtual manufacturing, the pre-estimation through simulations and the information management, are likely to have gaps and are in need for separate employment. In this respect, our approach is based on extending the open concept in virtual manufacturing to the regions of simulations and management. This idea incorporates a real device as a part of the virtual environment. This paper describes the extended open modes between a real device and its corresponding simulator. For the purpose of the initial implementation of our idea, we also present a concept of prediction-based in-process calibration system together with its simple illustration through simulation.