Industrial Measurement
Coordinate measurement is a standard task in today's industrial applications. A coordinate measurement machine for industry has to meet several demands, such as robustness, accuracy, usability, flexibility. In all respects A.R.T. could prove competence in numerous industrial projects.
In the simplest case, single 3D-points are measured and evaluated with regard to certain geometric relations such as lengths ot angles. For such applications, a simple measurement device might be sufficient. But tracking for industrial applications can go far beyond that; tool or robot tracking are more elaborate examples.
Tool Tracking
Tool tracking combines the flexibility of manual processing with the accuracy needed for quality assurance. Up to now A.R.T. participated in several projects concerning tool tracking for industrial and medical applications.
In the past we found three typical objectives for equipping a working place with a tool tracking system:
- Tool configuration - The system can give assistance by automatically configuring the tool (for example, a screwdriver's torque) corresponding to the current working position.
- Quality assurance - Using the 3D information of the tracking system, it can be checked and protocolled if every working position has been stepped through with correct adjustments, and in the correct order - in fact it may be difficult to achieve this sort of quality assurance by other means than a tracking system.
- Guidance for the worker - The worker can be directed from one working position to the next, e.g. by using a display mounted onto the tool.
© Data courtesy by BMW, VW
Robot Tracking and Teaching
While the use of industrial robots is nowadays commonplace, research in robotics is still going on. This applies to the improvement of usability of standard industrial robots as well as to the developement of new designs.
- In robot research and developement, A.R.T. systems are used to precisely localize autonomous robots and limb positions. We provide tracking volumes from small laboratory setups up to large outdoor tracking areas.
- In industrial robot applications, A.R.T. and our partners can help to overcome the laborious classical teaching processes such as lead-through or offline-programming, and substitute them by simpler procedures, e.g. using a pointing device.
