This work presents a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) approach to design, integrating a function-based design generation algorithm to a geometric modeler. Our long-term goal is to create a unified graph-grammar based designer assistance tool that generates geometrically valid designs from functionally feasible design concepts. This paper introduces the Assembler, a graph-grammar based algorithm that takes a functionally valid but geometrically ambiguous design of a cart made of Meccano Erector Set components and converts it into geometrically valid models of cart designs. Assembler uses grammars to implement solving the CSP formulation of the assembly problem. From the exploration of Assembler’s geometric models, we conclude that the assembly problems of our carts require more sophisticated constraining to generate more realistic designs.

Keywords:
assembling, design aids, product design, constraint theory, graph grammars
Topics:
Design, Manufacturing
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 by ASME
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