Generation of safe tool-paths for automatic manufacturing of light gauge steel panels in residential construction

摘要

The utilization of Computer-aided Manufacturing has allowed for rapid growth in the automotive and aerospace industries; however, effects of such advancements have not been fully realized in modern day construction. Even in the case of automated solutions, there are relatively few studies available in the literature which describe such systems. This paper introduces a prototype machine for fastening light-gauge steel framed wall-panels, proposing a framework for transferring manufacturing information outputted from building information models (BIM) to an open source file format readable by the programmable logic controller used to control the introduced machine. The proposed framework generates collision-free tool trajectories through the implementation of collision detection and avoidance modules. These modules are designed to intelligently plan operations for safe tool movement and easy integration of in-shop modifications. Real-world results from various panel configurations are presented to validate the accurate information transfer between the 3D-BIM outputs and the prototype machine.