Development of a Visual Assembly Planning System based on Neutral Files

Abstract

Assembly planning is still a manual undertaking today. In past work, however, a novel approach was presented that allows precise assembly sequence generation on the basis of a variety of optimization criteria. This approach was integrated directly into a CAD system, which in turn results in a dependency on the CAD system. In the context of this work, it was therefore examined how the same result can be realized with a neutral approach. Therefore, it will be investigated what kind of information can be extracted directly and how the missing information can be added via a user interface. Therefore, a reverse engineering algorithm and an additional user interface were developed using a game engine. After the 3D model was analyzed, the 3D model will be imported into the user interface and the interactive disassembly of the model will begin. Thus, the product to disassemble is selected via mouse clicks and moved to its final position. Once the disassembly is finished, the generated information is saved into a neutral exchange format. Based on the exchange format, the system is able to generate automatically assembly animations and assembly videos.