Constraint-based interference of assembly configurations

A system for the automatic synthesis of assembly configuration is presented. It consists of the propagation, combination, and satisfaction of three types of constraints: shape-matching constraints, constraints on the degrees of freedom, and nonintersection constraints. Given a high-level description of an assembly and the models of the workpieces, the system determines which parts of the workpieces should be mated and produces a set of homogeneous-coordinate transformations defining the relative position and orientation of each workpiece in the final assembly. This system can be seen as a previous step towards a practical and efficient assembly planner