Forward assembly planning based on stability

The paper presents an approach to sequence planning consisting in determining assembly sequences defined in terms of mating and non-mating operations and based on a dynamic expansion of the assembly tree obtained using a knowledge base management system. The planner considers the case of a single-robot assembly workcell. The use of stability and the detailed definition of sequences also by means of several non-mating operations are shown to be powerful instruments in the control of the tree expansion. Forward assembly planning has been chosen, in order to minimize the number of stability checks. Backtracking is avoided by combining precedence relations and stability analysis. Hard and soft constrains are introduced to drive the tree expansion. Hard constraints are precedence relations and stability analysis. All operations are associated to costs, which are used as soft constraints. The operation based approach enables one to manage even non-mating operations and to easily overcome the linearity constraint. Costs enable the planner to manage the association among tools and components. The first section of the paper concerns Stability Analysis that is subdivided into Static and Dynamic Stability Analysis. The former is mainly involved in analyzing gravity effects; the latter is mainly involved in evaluate inertia effects due to manipulation. Stability Analysis is implemented in a simplified form. Fundamental assumptions are: no rotational equilibrium condition is considered; for each reaction force only direction and versus, but not magnitude, are considered; friction is neglected. The second section discusses the structure of the planner and its implementation. The planner is a rule based system. Forward chaining and hypothetical reasoning are the inference strategies used. The knowledge base and the data base of the system are presented and the advantages obtained using a rule based system are discussed. The third section shows two planning examples, showing the performance of the system in a simple case and in an industrial test case, the assembly of a microwave branching filter composed of 26 components.