Development of Genetic Algorithm for Designing Planar Link Mechanisms

We propose a method based on genetic algorithm to automatically design planar link mechanisms that satisfies inputted purpose. Link mechanisms are a type of mechanical element that connects multiple parts in relative motion, and show a useful feature of extracting complex motion from a simple structure. Because it is not easy to design link mechanisms that performs the desired motion, many methods have been proposed to design link mechanisms to achieve the desired motion. However, it is still hard to know what kind of motion is required for the desired purpose in advance. Thus, we propose a design method using genetic algorithm with “purpose” as an input. Genetic algorithm is meta-heuristic methods that searches for optimal solution based on algorithms inspired by biological evolution. We show the modification of genetic algorithm to design planar link mechanisms and its application to the actual design attempts, and discuss further improvement of the model.