Path finding and grasp planning for robotic assembly

This paper focuses on developing a planning strategy for robotic assembly. At first, channel and junction are defined by using half-spaces, and free-space inside the female part is approximately decomposed by channels and junctions. Then, a simple and efficient algorithm to find the assembly path of the male part is developed, in which any path between the shortest and safest paths can be easily found by just changing the clearance gap between the male and female parts. Next, the robot arm is considered in the path planning, in which a feasible grasp angle region is obtained to avoid a collision between the robot arm and the female part during the assembly process. An optimum grasping angle can be found in the feasible grasping angle region by applying a proper performance index. Finally, a simple robotic assembly using the algorithm is numerically demonstrated.