Visual Workflow Construction With Behavior Trees and Data Blocks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current workflow implementations rely on textual descriptions, requiring users to navigate multiple engineering tools with different user operation behaviors, leading to increased costs, reduced efficiency, and limited flexibility due to long development cycles.
Innovation Solution
The development of a workflow constructing and monitoring system that generates a behavior tree corresponding to a workflow based on user input on a graphical user interface, allowing for the addition and connection of data blocks to function block nodes, and deploying the workflow to a runtime environment for execution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users follow textual descriptions to execute workflows using multiple engineering tools, then workflow execution is achieved, but user operation complexity increases and efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple engineering tools into a unified low-code development platform that provides visual workflow design, code generation, and deployment capabilities in a single integrated environment, eliminating the need to switch between separate tools for different workflow stages
Solution Approach 2:
The low-code development platform performs multiple functions including visual workflow design, automatic code generation, workflow deployment, and execution monitoring within a single system, making it a universal tool that replaces multiple specialized engineering tools
2Productivity
If multiple engineering tools are used for workflow execution, then comprehensive functionality is achieved, but development cycle length increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by providing pre-built workflow templates, reusable components, and automatic code generation that prepares workflow structures in advance, eliminating the need to manually create each workflow from scratch and significantly reducing development time
Solution Approach 2:
The low-code platform uses copying by allowing users to replicate existing workflow templates and components across multiple projects, enabling rapid deployment of similar workflows without recreating them each time, thus accelerating the development cycle
3Adaptability or versatility
If traditional workflow methods are used, then workflow execution is achieved, but flexibility is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by enabling users to dynamically modify workflow structures, add or remove steps, and reconfigure process flows through a visual interface without requiring programming knowledge, making the system adaptable to changing business requirements while remaining easy to operate
Data Source
AI summary
Various embodiments of the teachings herein include a workflow constructing and monitoring method. For example, a method may include: generating a behavior tree corresponding to a workflow using a behavior tree construction operation entered by a user on a GUI, the tree comprising function block nodes implementing a service operation; adding and connecting a data block to each function block node of a function block node in the behavior tree, each data block configured to present corresponding data in the service operation of the function block node connected thereto; and parsing the behavior tree connected with data blocks, deploying the workflow corresponding to the behavior tree to a runtime of a corresponding workcell so that the runtime executes the workflow to control each resource in the workcell to execute the service operation according to the workflow, and providing corresponding data to the corresponding data block for display.