State of the Art on Computational Design of Assemblies with Rigid Parts

Abstract

An assembly refers to a collection of parts joined together to achieve a specific form and/or functionality. Designing assemblies is a non-trivial task as a slight local modification on a part's geometry or its joining method could have a global impact on the structural and/or functional performance of the whole assembly. Assemblies can be classified as structures that transmit force to carry loads and mechanisms that transfer motion and force to perform mechanical work. In this state-of-the-art report, we focus on computational design of structures with rigid parts, which generally can be formulated as a geometric modeling and optimization problem. We broadly classify existing computational design approaches, mainly from the computer graphics community, according to high-level design objectives, including fabricability, structural stability, reconfigurability, and tileability. Computational analysis of various aspects of assemblies is an integral component in these design approaches. We review different classes of computational analysis and design methods, discuss their strengths and limitations, make connections among them, and propose possible directions for future research.

State of the Art in Computational Mould Design

“…In general, enforcing the existence of a (dis)assembly sequence, as well as a cast detachment path, is not trivial. In particular, the study of rigid parts assemblies and their design is currently an active and open research topic, as demonstrated by the rich analysis and discussion provided in the survey from Wang et al [WSP21]. Moreover, the verification or planning of a valid mould detachment path is a very complex geometric problem when considered in its general form.…”

“…These problems are still considered open research topics and are commonly being investigated separately. Wang et al [WSP21] presented an in-depth analysis of the computational design of assemblies with rigid parts; however, combining the assemblability and mouldability problems in a single optimization framework still needs further investigation.…”

Worst‐Case Rigidity Analysis and Optimization for Assemblies with Mechanical Joints

“…Several computational methods have been developed to construct interlocking assemblies for different applications, including puzzles [SFCO12] and 3D printed objects [YCXW17]. Please refer to a recent survey [WSP21b] for more details on stability analysis methods.…”

JoinABLe: Learning Bottom-up Assembly of Parametric CAD Joints

“…The ability to parametrically assemble parts into novel designs has numerous applications in the media and entertainment industry, where digital worlds can be populated with novel content. Another line of work has focused on assemblies that can be physically fabricated [8,26,42,43,45,49], as described in a recent survey [50]. Our work differs in that we automate the pair-wise assembly of real-world CAD parts using a learning based method without class labels or human guidance.…”