The discrete event control of robotic assembly tasks

The authors take a new approach to robotic assembly, treating assembly as a discrete event system. A discrete event in assembly is defined as a change in contact state reflecting a change in geometric constraint. Based on the discrete event model, a discrete event controller is presented. The problems of task-level planning and synthesis are addressed. Given a nominal event trajectory, discrete controls are defined. Given the discrete controls, continuous robot velocity commands are determined which follow the desired discrete event trajectory