Automated Type Synthesis of Planar Mechanisms Using Numeric Optimization With Genetic Algorithms

This paper presents a novel method for the automated type synthesis of planar mechanisms and multibody systems. The method explicitly includes topology as a design variable in an optimization framework based on a genetic algorithm (GA). Each binary string genome of the GA represents the concatenation of the upper-right triangular portion of the link adjacency matrix of a mechanism. Different topologies can be explored by the GA by applying genetic operators to the genomes. The evolutionary process is not dependent on the results obtained from enumeration. Two examples of topology-based optimization show the applicability of this method to mechanism type synthesis problems. This method is distinct from others in the literature in that it represents the first fully automated algorithm for solving a general type synthesis problem with the help of a numeric optimizer.

[1]  Yi Liu,et al.  Automated type and dimensional synthesis of planar mechanisms using numeric optimization with genetic algorithms , 2005 .

[2]  O. Sigmund,et al.  Planar articulated mechanism design by graph theoretical enumeration , 2004 .

[3]  Xianwen Kong,et al.  Type Synthesis of 3-DOF Translational Parallel Manipulators Based on Screw Theory , 2004 .

[4]  Hong-Sen Yan,et al.  Computerized rules-based regeneration method for conceptual design of mechanisms , 2002 .

[5]  Clément Gosselin,et al.  Type Synthesis of 3-DOF Spherical Parallel Manipulators Based on Screw Theory , 2002 .

[6]  J. McPhee,et al.  Dynamics of Flexible Multibody Systems Using Virtual Work and Linear Graph Theory , 2000 .

[7]  Lung-Wen Tsai,et al.  Mechanism Design: Enumeration of Kinematic Structures According to Function , 2001 .

[8]  Jean-Pierre Merlet,et al.  Parallel Robots , 2000 .

[9]  A. C. Rao.  A Genetic Algorithm for Topological Characteristics of Kinematic Chains , 2000 .

[10]  Peter Eberhard,et al.  Some advantages of stochastic methods in multicriteria optimization of multibody systems , 1999 .

[11]  Shean Juinn Chiou,et al.  Automated conceptual design of mechanisms , 1999 .

[12]  Hong-Sen Yan,et al.  Creative Design of Mechanical Devices , 1999 .

[13]  John Bares,et al.  Automated synthesis and optimization of robot configurations: an evolutionary approach , 1999 .

[14]  A. C. Rao.  Topology based rating of kinematic chains and inversions using information theory , 1998 .

[15]  John W. Barrus,et al.  Automated generation and analysis of dynamic system designs , 1998 .

[16]  A. C. Rao.  Platform type planar robots: Topology‐based selection for rigidity and work space , 1997 .

[17]  Arthur G. Erdman,et al.  Computer-Aided Mechanism Design: Now and the Future , 1995 .

[18]  Wen Miin Hwang,et al.  Computer-aided structural synthesis of planar kinematic chains with simple joints , 1992 .

[19]  Robert L. Norton,et al.  Design of Machinery , 1991 .

[20]  A. H. Soni,et al.  An Automated Procedure for Intelligent Mechanism Selection and Dimensional Synthesis , 1988 .

[21]  David E. Goldberg,et al.  Genetic Algorithms in Search Optimization and Machine Learning , 1988 .

[22]  Donald R. Riley,et al.  A systematic procedure for type synthesis of mechanisms with literature review literaturbe-sprechung , 1985 .

[23]  Arthur G. Erdman,et al.  Mechanism Design : Analysis and Synthesis , 1984 .

[24]  Trevor H. Davies,et al.  An extension of Manolescu's classification of planar kinematic chains and mechanisms of mobility M ⩾ 1, using graph theory , 1968 .