Apparatus and method for orientation of a partially coated sphere

An apparatus for orienting a partially coated spherical-object, containing a coating over a portion of a surface of the spherical-object, wherein the coating defines a spherical-cap such that the spherical-cap is a region of the spherical-object which lies above a plane and such that the spherical-cap includes a base defined by the plane, and wherein the spherical-cap defines a polar-axis passing through both a center of the spherical-object and through an apex of the spherical-cap, said polar-axis oriented normal to the plane, wherein an intersection of the plane and the surface defines a boundary-line, comprising:

• a pedestal which retains the spherical-object and selectively rotates the spherical-object about a longitudinal-axis of the pedestal;
• a camera that captures an image of the spherical-object on the pedestal;
• and
• a controller in communication with the pedestal and the camera, said controller operable to control the rotation of the pedestal, detect the boundary-line in the image, and determine when the pedestal has positioned the spherical-object to cause the boundary-line to have a zero-curvature, the boundary-line being at the base of the spherical-cap which is the region of the spherical-object which lies above the plane;
• wherein the controller is also operable to determine a correlation-coefficient of a linearity of the boundary-line based on the image from the camera.