DOI: 10.1017/pds.2026.10586 ISSN: 2732-527X
Reinforcement learning for the design of mechanisms using available bars and pins
Maxime Escande, Kristina Shea, Tino StankovicABSTRACT:
This work explores Reinforcement Learning (RL) for the circular design of planar truss linkages using available bars and pins. A bipartite graph representation and elementary action formulation enable agents to assemble mechanisms in a physics-based environment. Results for a force-inverter design problem show 98.5% success for fixed-stock training and 66.0% for shuffled stocks. The method demonstrates RL’s potential for inventory-constrained mechanism synthesis, with future work targeting scalable, indexing-invariant architectures and more flexible connection actions.