SidneyChart: A statechart GUI for SOA orchestration in autonomous industrial systems

In the present industrial manufacturing scenario it is required that work cells would be easier to manipulate. Therefore there is a demand for simple orchestration techniques of different industrial devices, such as vision systems, cameras, sensors, PLCs, pocket-PCs. This paper meets this need by implementing a dynamic graphical user interface (GUI) based on the StateCharts concept. The paper describes the choices made in the construction, namely regarding the handling of hierarchy and discusses their implications in the effectiveness of the GUI. Some tests made with the software that resulted from this paper also show that the introduction of a GUI that represents event-based systems, like StateCharts, could be a precise and simple tool for the construction of complex industrial cells by non-expert users.