About cookies on this site Our websites require some cookies to function properly (required). In addition, other cookies may be used with your consent to analyze site usage, improve the user experience and for advertising. For more information, please review your options. By visiting our website, you agree to our processing of information as described in IBM’sprivacy statement. To provide a smooth navigation, your cookie preferences will be shared across the IBM web domains listed here.
Publication
ASME DETC 1993
Conference paper
A representation language for mechanical behavior
Abstract
Automating mechanism design requires developing a representation language for describing mechanism behavior. The language is necessary to specify design requirements, to describe existing mechanisms, and to catalog them for design reuse. This paper presents a simple and expressive language for describing the behavior of fixed-axes mechanisms. The language uses predicates and algebraic relations to describe the positions and motions of each part of the mechanism and the relationships between them. It allows both accurate and complete descriptions and partial, abstract, and underspecified descriptions. We show that the language is computationally viable by describing how to automatically derive behavioral descriptions stated in the language from the mechanism structure. To test its usefulness, we describe a design validation algorithm that determines if a given mechanism structure can produce desired behaviors stated in the language.