Assembly planning based on semantic modeling approach

There are still some challenges for the research of assembly planning. One of the reasons is the weakness in effective description of assembly knowledge and information. An assembly semantic modeling approach is presented. Product (assembly) information is described by a three-level semantic abstraction (Concept/Function Level, Structure Level and Part/Feature Level). Semantic object is an abstract description of special product information, in particularly, for assembly relevant information in this proposed study. And by a multi-mapping mechanism supported by Semantic Interpreter and Semantic Dictionary, these objects could retrieve relevant technologic information, e.g. assembly design intention, basic function, assembly hierarchical structure, assembly relations and assembly knowledge, etc., from resource bank. Based on this approach, an interactive assembly planning system is developed. Product semantic information model could offer much useful information for designer to finish the assembly (process) design and make determination in that process. Therefore, complex and low efficient computation in the design (or planning) process could be avoided. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.