A novel ant colony algorithm for assembly sequence planning

An ant colony algorithm-based approach to assembly sequence generation and optimization of mechanical products is presented in this article. For diverse assemblies, the approach generates different amount of ants cooperating to find optimal solutions with the least reorientations during assembly processes. Based on assembly by disassembly philosophy, a candidate list composed by feasible and reasonable disassembly operations that are derived from disassembly matrix guides sequences construction in the solution space expressed implicitly, and so guarantees the geometric feasibility of sequences. The state-transition rule and local-and global-updating rules are defined to ensure acquiring of the optimal solutions. Cases are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, and the characteristics of the algorithm are discussed.