Orienting generalized polygonal parts

K.Y. Goldberg (1990) described an algorithm for orienting planar polygonal parts using a modified parallel-jaw gripper. The authors extend this algorithm to handle parts with curved edges. They define a generalized polygon as a planar figure made up of piecewise linear and circular edges, and a generalized polygonal part as one of constant cross section, the convex hull of which is a generalized polygon. For this class of parts a complete algorithm for determining an optimal parts-orienting strategy is presented.<<ETX>>