The paper describes an approach to automatic generation of assembly sequences, which uses formal and heuristic knowledge in the area of assembly. A design process is envisioned where the engineer specifies individual part geometries and relates parts to each other to create assemblies. A computerized tool then analyzes the design and suggests sequences for assembling the product. The high-level modeling scheme is described first. Parts are represented in terms of their features, while products consist of parts related to each other through mating conditions. Automatic reasoning processes applied to the design representation plan selected assembly sequences in two stages: A graph transformation method generates an exploded view of the product and a rule-based procedure derives selected assembly sequences. An implementation for triaxial assemblies is described and demonstrated.
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20.
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