Evolutionary programming of CNC machines

The paper proposes a new concept for programming of CNC machines. The concept based on genetic algorithms assures evolutionary generation and optimization of NC programs on the basis of CAD models of manufacturing environment. The structure, undergoing simulated evolution, is the population of NC programs. The NC programs control the machine which performs simple elementary motions. During the evolution the machine movement becomes more and more complex and intelligent solutions emerge gradually as a result of the interaction between machine movements and manufacturing environment. The examples of evolutionary programming of CNC lathe and CNC milling machine tool for different complexities of the blanks and products are presented. The proposed concept showed a high degree of universality, efficiency. and reliability and it can be also simply adopted to other CNC machines. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.