Automated part programming for CNC milling by artificial intelligence techniques

This paper discusses research which has led to a working program based on artificial intelligence techniques for automatically writing a part program for milling. The paper discusses the approach used and gives details of the implementation. The input to the program is the graphic representation of the part (a drawing), and user-defined items such as tool details, material type, and so on. The program has an initial state, the shape of the raw material, and a goal state, the shape of the part. The program solves the problem of achieving the goal state from the initial state by using machining moves, and hence writes the part program. The current implementation produces a part program for a 2 1 2-dimensional part on a 3-axis CNC milling machine.