Fixturing is closely related to grasping. The purpose in both cases are to immobilize the part. Modular fixturing is, however, different from grasping because the locators are restricted to the discretized holes on the regular lattice.
Recently there has been a surge of research on modular fixturing. Brost and Goldberg [1996] present the first complete synthesizing algorithm that guarantees to find a fixture consisting of three locators and one clamp for any given polygon. The algorithm also indicates if no such fixture exists. Wallack and Canny [1994] present a complete algorithm for a fixturing model using four locators on a split lattice that can open and close like a vice. Penev and Requicha [1995] present their study on fixture foolproofing: given a fixture consisting of three locators and one clamp, where should the blocking pins be inserted to insure that the part can be loaded in only one desired pose? Overmars et al. [1995] propose a new class of planar fixtures that includes flat edge-contact and present a complete algorithm to find such fixture. Brost and Peters [1996] present an algorithm that automatically designs fixtures and assembly pallets to hold three-dimensional parts. Rong [1997] explores an analytical methodology to conduct modular fixture planning based on geometric access analysis. Zhuang and Goldberg [1997] shows a design rule for how to modify a part while still being able to re-use the given fixture.
There are numerous research projects and Web sites related to
fixturing and manufacturing via the Web. There is an early fixture
verification site at CMU [1996]. Cheng [1997]
discusses a new integration language environment called 
. This
is available at The Integration Engineering Laboratory [1997].
FIXMA[1997] is part of the Machine Tool-Agile Manufacturing
Research Institute (MT-AMRI). Chui et al. [1997]
discusses a new manufacturing environment for rapid prototyping being
developed at The Integrated Manufacturing Laboratory [1997]
at U.C. Berkeley.