Component-based building instructions for block assembly. Issue 3 (16th April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Man; Igarashi, Yuki; Kanamori, Yoshihiro; Mitani, Jun
• Is Part Of: Computer-aided design and applications. Volume 14:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 293
• Page End: 300
• Publication Date: 2017-04-16
• Subjects: LEGO® -- block assembly -- building instructions -- segmentation; Computer-aided design -- Congresses; Computer-aided design -- Periodicals; Engineering design -- Data processing -- Congresses; Engineering design -- Periodicals; 620.00420285
• DOI: 10.1080/16864360.2016.1240450
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1686-4360

Abstract

Abstract : A LEGO sculpture with fragile constructions of blocks might easily fall to pieces during assembly, making a well-designed set of instructions crucial. A simple layer-by-layer, bottom-up assembly does not work well, especially when over-hanging regions exist. We propose a method for generating component-based building instructions aiming at supporting users to assemble fragile block models efficiently. Our method contains two independent segmentations: segmentation at weakly-connected blocks and segmentation for avoiding floating blocks . Based on these segmentations, the whole model is divided into components. A set of building instructions is generated by deciding the assembly order of the components. The effectiveness of our method is demonstrated through a user study. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: