Assembly Sequences Based on Multiple Criteria Against Products with Deformable Parts

To generate assembly sequences that robots can easily handle, this study tackled assembly sequence generation (ASG) by considering two tradeoff objectives: (1) insertion conditions and (2) degrees of the constraints affecting the assembled parts. We propose a multi-objective genetic algorithm to balance these two objectives. Furthermore, we extend our previously proposed 3D computer-aided design (CAD)-based method for extracting three types of two-part relationship matrices from 3D models that include deformable parts. The interference between deformable and other parts can be determined using scaled part shapes. Our proposed ASG can produce Pareto-optimal sequences for multi-component models with deformable parts such as rubber bands, rubber belts, and roller chains. We further discuss the limitation and applicability of the generated sequences to robotic assembly.