Optimizing the Non-Productive Time of Robotic Arm for Drilling Circular Holes Network Patterns via the Dhouib-Matrix-3 Metaheuristic
Alaeddine Zouari, Souhail Dhouib
Abstract
The research work in this paper revolves around the non-productive time optimisation (time spent by the drilling tool while travelling between holes) of robotic arm for holes drilling operation based on the novel metaheuristic Dhouib-Matrix-3. In fact, Dhouib-Matrix-3 hybridises in an iterated structure two techniques: the stochastic heuristic entitled Dhouib-Matrix-TSP2 and the local search method named Far-to-Near. The main aim of this study is to prove the performance of Dhouib-Matrix-3 to enhance drilling robot arm non-productive time reduction and then improve productivity. Hence, a literature review was conducted to highlight on the one hand the main algorithms applied in tool path optimisation in drilling process and applicable domains in the other hand. Then, Dhouib-Matrix-3 has been applied on several circular holes network patterns case studies. Afterwards, results of instance simulations in case studies showed that the Dhouib-Matrix-3 exhibits a significant reduction in robot arm path compared to other metaheuristics in the literature: genetic algorithm, basic ant colony optimisation and modified ant colony optimisation.