Automated assembly planning for B-rep products

The BRAEN system (see R. Hoffman, 2nd International Conference on Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Troy, NY, May 21-3, 1990) takes boundary representation (B-rep) models of components along with the positions of the components when they are assembled to form a product, as well as workcell components such as walls and table surfaces, and derives a sequence of translation subassembly operations which will disassemble the product. The freedom-of-motion module of the BRAEN system is discussed. Reuse theorems that can be used to deduce freedoms of motion for configurations from previous calculations rather than computing them anew are introduced. The improvement in performance produced by the reuse theorems is demonstrated for several products