Automatic Generation of Assembly Sequences

조립순서의 자동생성에 관한 연구

It is well known that an assembly operation is usually constrained by the geometric interference between parts. These constraints are normally presented as AND/OR precedence relationships. To find a feasible assembly sequence which satisfies the geometric constraints is not an easy task because of the TSP(Traveling Salesman Problem) nature with precedence constraints. In this paper, we developed an automated system based on Neural Network for generating feasible assembly sequences. Modified Hopfield and Tank network is used to solve the problem of AND/OR precedence-constrained assembly sequences. An economic assembly sequence can be also obtained by applying the cost matrix that contains cost-reducing factors. To evaluate the performance and effectiveness of the developed system, a case of automobile generator is tested. The results show that the developed system can provide a "good" planning tool for an assembly planner within a reasonable computation time period.