Path-planning techniques for the simulation of disassembly tasks

Purpose – This paper aims to develop path-planning techniques that support a general selective disassembly planner in a virtual reality environment. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents an automatic selective disassembly planning and two path-planning techniques that support it. The first one is based on single translations, while the second is based on the generation of a random search tree. The methods used have been adapted and modified from available robotic path-planning methods for their use in disassembly path planning. Findings – The paper finds that the proposed techniques are applicable to the automatic generation of disassembly sequences. Research limitations/implications – The paper provides an automatic tool that can be integrated in simulation software for the analysis and validation of disassembly operation. Practical implications – Maintenance operations have a great impact in the security and life expectancy of any product. This is especially true for some applications such as aerospace that must pass rigorous security checking procedures. Geometric reasoning and virtual reality can help in reducing costs and design time by moving testing from physical mock-ups to virtual ones. Originality/value – The paper shows the integration of path-planning techniques in automatic disassembly-planning methods.