Describing process plans as the formal semantics of a language of shape

Kenneth N. Brown, Chris A. McMahon, J. H. Sims Williams

Abstract: A method of formalising manufacturing information for use in the design process is presented. The method uses a grammar of shape and its formal semantics to describe the set of objects manufacturable by a given process, to generate objects from that set, and to describe corresponding process plans for the manufacture of those objects. The grammar thus defines a search space for generative process planning, and the semantics provide an interpretation of the results of a search in that space.