A framework for CAD-based geometric reasoning for robot assembly language†

Abstract

For automatic robot programming, world modelling of the robot's environment is one of the most important phases of the task planning. World modelling requires that the robot know the environment in which it operates, including the spatial configuration of all objects in the task environment. In robotic assembly planning at the task level, representation of these objects requires symbolic feature and shape identification of the objects to be assembled by the robot. In this paper, we present a framework for reasoning about objects based on their shapes and features and the representation of such objects for robotic assembly planning when the modelling is done on a CAD system. We show the importance of AI languages in the communication of constructive solid geometry (CSG) based information from modellers. Finally, we present the schematic for a formalism, based on Prolog, for expressing object properties and assembly situations.