Comparative topological modelling and analysis of assemblies and assembly systems-an aid in computerized assembly planning

Recent findings in computerized assembly planning and robot task planning constitute a sound theoretical base for automatic programming of assembly robots. However, most research is limited to automatic programming of the stand-alone-robot type of assembly systems. The limitation is mainly due to the absence of two significant elements. The first element is a uniform model for the modeling of robotized assembly systems of numerous different types. The second element is a reasoning mechanism which deduces significant system properties from such a model. This paper introduces a general method of topological modeling of assembly systems. The method includes a procedure for comparing assembly system topologies and assembly sequences. This feature also provides the opportunity to verify the compatibility between the two. The method further provides a means to derive the organization of work as well as the principle of operation associated with a given assembly system