Title: CMM sequence optimisation with collision detection

Authors: Ralph O. Buchal, An Wang

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. ' Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada

Abstract: This paper presents a method for finding optimal collision-free inspection sequences for Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs). The sequencing problem is formulated as a standard Travelling Salesperson Problem (TSP). During the network construction, collision detection is performed for each pair of measurement points using a novel image-based collision detection method. Penalties are added to path segments with collisions, and the nearest-neighbour TSP algorithm is applied. For the path segments with collisions, a heuristic algorithm is employed to make a detour around the interference volume. The proposed methods are implemented using the ACIS solid modelling kernel and OpenGL graphics library. The effectiveness of these methods is verified by simulations to demonstrate the collision-free path generation of parts with complex geometry and a comparison of the TSP solutions with and without the collision penalties is presented.

Keywords: sequence optimisation; coordinate measuring machines; CMM; path planning; collision detection; collision avoidance; distributed manufacturing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2006.010082

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2006 Vol.26 No.1/2, pp.65 - 74

Published online: 16 Jun 2006 *

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