In the present paper, an intelligent methodology has been used for assembly tool/gripper selection and determination of the optimal assembly sequence. Since it is well known that assembly sequence planning (ASP) is an NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem, in particular, with increase in number of components in the assembly, the computational complexity involved in searching for the optima...

With the increasing level of automation in assembly planning and assembly execution, it becomes more obvious that there is a gap between the output of Q mechanical designer and an assembly planner. The question is: How t o describe a designed assembly to an assembly planning system? The input to almost all the current reported automatic assembly planning systems is one-static-state of the final...

Automatic assembly planning is recognized as an important tool for achieving concurrent product and process development thus reducing manufacturing costs. It plays an important role in designing and planning the assembly systems. In order to recommend a good sequence of assembly operations, the process planner needs to generate all such feasible sequences. In this paper, the representation of t...

Sequence planning generation is an important problem in assembly line design. A good assembly sequence can help to reduce the cost and time of the manufacturing process. This paper focuses on assembly sequence planning (ASP) known as a hard combinatorial optimization problem. Although the ASP problem has been tackled via even more sophisticated optimization techniques, these techniques are ofte...

This paper presents a distributed planning and control architecture for autonomous Multi-Manipulator Systems (MMS). The control architecture is implemented using an agent-based approach. A team of distributed and autonomous agents is deployed to model the flexible assembly system in such a way that the agents negotiate, collaborate, and cooperate to achieve the goals of assembly tasks. The main...

Performing complex assembly tasks with robots requires fine-motion planners able to cope with uncertainty and contact motions, which is a difficult issue. This report proposes a method to predict the behavior of motions under contact uncertainty in order to check the feasibility of paths generated by gross-motion planning algorithms from a nominal model of the environment. This pragmatical appr...

Virtual assembly has been widely used in product development. However, virtual operation and actual operation are different in time and space, the simulation of interactive virtual assembly cannot support the assembly operation’s process planning directly. In this paper, the solution for assembly operation’s process planning is developed based on interactive virtual assembly. According to the s...

This paper presents a knowledge-based method for identifying infeasible assembly operations in the context of assembly sequence planning. In addition the reasons for the infeasibility are identified and these can guide product designers towards the necessary design changes to make a preferred assembly sequence feasible, or guarantee that an assembly sequence includes a specific partial assembly...

The nonholonomic motion planning problem is considered for a novel class of modular mobile manipulators, where each module is implemented as a planar parallel manipulator with idler wheels. This assembly is actuated by shape changes of its modules, which, under the in uence of the nonholonomic constraints on the wheels, induce a global snake{like motion of the assembly. The kinematics for a 2{ ...

We developed a strategic-planning model to optimize BMW’s allocation of various products to global production sites over a 12-year planning horizon. It includes the supply of materials as well as the distribution of finished cars to the global markets. It determines the investments needed in the three production departments, body assembly, paint shop, and final assembly, for every site and the ...