A Three-Dimensional Assembly Task Quantification with Application to Machine Dexterity

Quantification of assembly tasks is a key element in finding the net dexterity of a task/effector system. Three-dimensional task models of a general kind have been constructed for nonrotational and nonsymmetrical peg-and-hole problems. The square-peg-and-hole model developed extends the two- dimensional wedging and jamming diagrams into their three-dimensional counterparts. Contact constraint equations and contact modalities have been expressed in terms of line algebra. New transformations of line coordinates have been introduced to facilitate the production of constraint equations. A taxonomy of contacts has been developed based on con straint equations, which recognizes conditions under which special cases occur, such as line-plane and plane-plane con tacts.