Component Influence-Driven Fastener Reduction for Robotic Disassemblability-Aware Design Simplification

TL;DR

This paper introduces an analytical framework that identifies and reduces fasteners in product designs to facilitate robotic disassembly, improving efficiency and safety in automated remanufacturing.

Contribution

The framework quantitatively assesses component influence on disassembly constraints and guides fastener reduction using CAD models and influence scores.

Findings

Successfully targeted redundant fasteners in seven household appliances.

Reduced structural constraints by 8 to 132 components.

Shortened robot travel distances by 165 to 1675 millimeters.

Abstract

To accelerate automated remanufacturing, robotic disassembly must be considered during the product design phase. However, designers currently lack quantitative feedback to identify which structural elements hinder robotic operations. To address this, this study proposes an analytical framework that provides actionable redesign guidance focused on fastener reduction, as fasteners are numerous and ubiquitous components found in almost all manufactured products. Using a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) model and its automatically generated Contact-Connection-Constraint (CCC) graph, the framework translates robotic disassembly sequence planning outcomes into component influence scores. These scores reflect how often a component causes structural constraint violations or evaluation objective deteriorations in the robotic disassembly sequence. To visually highlight structural hindrances, the framework projects these scores onto the CAD geometry as 3D heatmaps. The system then analytically simulates the removal of highly influential fasteners. It reports the expected reductions in structural constraints, tool changes, and robot travel distances, while preventing structurally unsafe modifications by evaluating geometric stability metrics. Experiments on seven household appliances demonstrate that the framework successfully targets redundant fasteners. Removing the recommended fasteners simplified the structural dependencies by eliminating between 8 and 132 structural constraints on the graph depending on each product's structural configuration. Furthermore, it improved robotic operational efficiency by eliminating unnecessary tool change operations and shortening travel distances by 165 to 1675 millimeters wherever structurally permissible.