Abstract
The difficulty of an assembly problem is the inherent complexity of possible solutions. If the most suitable plan is selected after all solutions are found, it will be very time consuming and unrealistic. Motivated by the success of genetic algorithms (GAs) in solving combinatorial and complex problems by examining a small number of possible candidate solutions, GAs are employed to find a near-optimal assembly plan for a general environment. Five genetic operators are used: tree crossover, tree mutation, cut-and-paste, break-and-joint, and reproduction. The fitness function can adapt to different criteria easily. This assembly planner can help an inexperienced technician to find a good solution efficiently. The algorithm has been fully implemented. One example product is given to show the applications and results.
Matrix Schur functions, permutation matrices, and young operators as inner product spaces
