Abstract
In support of the effort to bring downstream issues to the attention of the designer as parts take shape, an analysis system is being built to extract certain features relevant to the assembly process, such as the dimension, shape, and symmetry of an object. These features can be applied to a model during the downstream process to evaluate handling and assemblability. In this paper, we will focus on the acquisition phase of the assembly process and employ a Design for Assembly (DFA) evaluation to quantify factors in this process. The capabilities of a non-homogeneous, non-manifold boundary representation geometric modeling system are used with an Index of Difficulty (ID) that represents the dexterity and time required to assemble a product. A series of algorithms based on the high-level abstractions of loop and link are developed to extract features that are difficult to orient, which is one of the DFA criteria. Examples for testing the robustness of the algorithms are given. Problems related to nearly symmetric outlines are also discussed.