Abstract
Feature recognition is a discipline focusing on the design and implementation of algorithms for detecting manufacturing information such as holes, slots, etc. in a solid model. Automated feature recognition has been an active research area in solid modeling for many years, and is considered to be a critical component for CAD/CAM integration. This paper gives foundations for understanding the state of the art in feature recognition research. It also establishes the context for a special panel session at the 17th ASME International Computers in Engineering Conference. Four papers from different research groups participated in a benchmarking exercise on feature recognition; each wrote a paper on the results of executing their feature recognition systems on a collected set of parts. This panel session should serve as a catalyst for the feature recognition community to collaborate in establishing standard test parts and performance measures and in identifying and resolving research issues.
