A survey of constraints in automated assembly planning

This paper is a survey of constraints used in automated assembly planning, where “constraints” are interpreted broadly to include requirements, preferences, and suggestions to the planner. We list a large number of constraints that have appeared in the assembly planning literature and categorize them along several dimensions. These dimensions include strategic vs. tactical constraints; requirements vs. criteria to optimize vs. suggestions; and constraints encoding manufacturing requirements vs. those imposed by the automated planning process itself. We also consider the information needed to assess each constraint, particularly as it affects the efficiency of planning with the constraint. Finally, we present our planned framework for incorporating many of the surveyed constraints into an interactive version of the Archimedes assembly planner