International Journal of Robotics Research
Merging BSP trees yields polyhedral set operations
SIGGRAPH '90 Proceedings of the 17th annual conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques
Grasp metrics: optimality and complexity
WAFR Proceedings of the workshop on Algorithmic foundations of robotics
On computing four-finger equilibrium and force-closure grasps of polyhedral objects
International Journal of Robotics Research
Group morphology with convolution algebras
Proceedings of the 14th ACM Symposium on Solid and Physical Modeling
A complete and efficient algorithm for searching 3-D form-closure grasps in the discrete domain
IEEE Transactions on Robotics
Efficient simplex computation for fixture layout design
Computer-Aided Design
| Hi-index | 0.00 |
The wide adoption of agile manufacturing systems has necessitated the design and use of fixtures or work holding devices that have in-built flexibility to rapidly respond to part design changes. Despite the availability of reconfigurable fixtures, practical fixture configuration largely remains an experience driven manual activity to enable customization for varying workpiece geometry, and most automated solutions do not scale well to accommodate such variation. In this paper, we address the problem of rapidly synthesizing a realistic fixture that will guarantee stability and immobility of a specified polyhedral work-part. We propose that the problem of automated fixture layout may be approached in two distinct stages. First, we determine the spatial locations of clamping points on the work piece boundary using the principles of force and form closure, to ensure immobility of the fixtured part under external perturbation. In particular, we show that the candidate restraints mapped to the six dimensional vector space of wrenches (force-moment pairs) may be hashed in a straightforward manner to efficiently generate force closure configurations that restrain part movement against large external wrenches. When clamps are allowed to exert arbitrarily high reaction forces on the part, the spatial arrangement of the clamping locations ensures the part is in form closure. On generating force/form closure configurations, the chosen locations are matched against a user-specified library of reconfigurable clamps to synthesize a valid fixture layout comprising clamps that are accessible and collision free with each other and the part. Additionally, in the case of determining machining setups the clamps are chosen to avoid collisions with the moving cutting tool. We demonstrate fast algorithms to perform both location selection and fixture matching, and show several results that underscore the practical application of our solution in automated manufacturing process planning.