To compute robust 2D assembly plans, we present an approach that combines geometric planning with a deep neural network. We train the network using the Box2D physics simulator with added stochastic noise to yield robustness scores—the success probabilities of planned assembly motions. As running a simulation for every assembly motion is impractical, we train a convolutional neural network to map assembly operations, given as an image pair of the subassemblies before and after they are mated, to a robustness score. The neural network prediction is used within a planner to quickly prune out motions that are not robust. We demonstrate this approach on two-handed planar assemblies, where the motions are one-step translations. Results suggest that the neural network can learn robustness to plan robust sequences an order of magnitude faster than physics simulation.
(Left) A robust assembly operation, which we find as part of the assembly sequencing, versus an operation that is not (Right), which we opt to avoid