Research question
Can ordered, smooth tool-contact paths be generated from scanned point-cloud regions without first reconstructing a complete CAD surface?
Method
Weighted locally optimal projection contracts region points into a one-dimensional path. Prim's minimum-spanning-tree algorithm and pruning order the points, followed by curvature-constrained smoothing.
Main findings
Path generation was demonstrated for intersecting-pipe welds, turbine-blade repair beads and thin-wall additive slices. The contribution is tool-contact-path generation, which can be combined with process-specific region extraction, tool orientation and robot motion planning.