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US 2020/0049486 A1Published application
Coordinate measuring device
AssigneeFaro Technologies, Inc.
InventorsWilliam W. Christine, Xiaoyu Cai, Max K. Kim
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A six-DOF probe includes a retroreflector, a collection of target lights, and a stylus having a probe tip. A laser tracker measures a distance, a first angle, and a second angle to the retroreflector and captures an image of the illuminated target lights. A processor determines the three-dimensional coordinates of the probe tip based at least in part on the measured distance, measured first angle, measured second angle and on a central portion of the captured image, the size of the central portion based at least in part on the measured distance.
Claims17
A method comprising:
- providing a tracker and a six degree-of-freedom (six-DOF) probe, the six-DOF probe having a retroreflector, a stylus, and a collection of target lights, the stylus having a probe tip;
- with the six-DOF probe, illuminating a set of target lights selected from the collection of target lights;
- with the tracker, launching a beam of light onto the retroreflector, measuring a distance to the retroreflector, measuring a first angle and a second angle to the retroreflector, and capturing an image of the set of target lights;
- with one or more processors coupled to the tracker, selecting a group of spots from among elements in the captured image, the selecting based at least in part on a similarity criterion, the similarity criterion being a measure of similarity of the selected elements;
- with the one or more processors, determining three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of the probe tip based at least in part on the measured distance, the measured first angle, the measured second angle, and the group of spots in the captured image;
- and
- storing the 3D coordinates of the probe tip.
4 more elements
A method comprising:
- providing a tracker and a six degree-of-freedom (six-DOF) probe, the six-DOF probe having a retroreflector, a stylus, and a collection of target lights, the stylus having a probe tip;
- with the six-DOF probe, illuminating a set of target lights selected from the collection of target lights;
- with the tracker, launching a beam of light onto the retroreflector, measuring a distance to the retroreflector, measuring a first angle and a second angle to the retroreflector, and capturing an image of the set of target lights;
- with one or more processors coupled to the tracker, selecting a region of the captured image based at least in part on the measured distance;
- with the one or more processors, determining three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of the probe tip based at least in part on the measured distance, the measured first angle, the measured second angle, and the selected region of the captured image;
- and
- storing the 3D coordinates of the probe tip.
4 more elements
A method comprising:
- providing a tracker and a six degree-of-freedom (six-DOF) probe, the six-DOF probe having a retroreflector and a collection of target lights;
- with the tracker, launching a beam of light onto the retroreflector, locking onto the retroreflector, measuring a first distance to the retroreflector, and capturing a first image of the collection of target lights on a camera image plane;
- with the tracker, rotating tracker beam direction about an azimuth axis by 180 degrees, rotating the tracker beam direction about a zenith axis to point the beam of light back toward the retroreflector, locking onto the retroreflector, and capturing a second image of the collection of target lights on the camera image plane;
- with one or more processors coupled to the tracker, locating a first virtual retroreflector vertex in the camera image plane, the locating based at least in part on determining a first point of symmetry in a combination of the first image and the second image;
- and
- storing the first distance and a location of the first virtual retroreflector vertex in the camera image plane.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- providing a tracker and a six degree-of-freedom (six-DOF) probe, the six-DOF probe having a retroreflector and a collection of target lights;
- with the six-DOF probe, illuminating a set of target lights selected from the collection of target lights;
- with the tracker, capturing an image of the set of target lights;
- with one or more processors coupled to the tracker, determining a correspondence among the set of target lights and elements in the image based at least in part on an asymmetry in positions of the set of target lights on the six-DOF probe and on an asymmetry of positions of elements in the image;
- and
- storing the correspondence.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- providing a six degree-of-freedom (six-DOF) probe having a collection of target lights, a tracker having a six-DOF camera operable to image the collection of target lights, and an air temperature sensor;
- with one or more processors coupled to the tracker, determining an adjusted focal length for the six-DOF camera based at least in part on an air temperature measured by the air temperature sensor;
- and
- storing the measured air temperature and the adjusted focal length.
1 more element
A method comprising:
- providing a tracker having a six-DOF camera and a six degree-of-freedom (six-DOF) probe, the six-DOF probe having a retroreflector and a collection of target lights;
- moving the six-DOF probe to a multiplicity of distances from the tracker, the six-DOF probe held in a variety of poses;
- at each location:
- locking a beam from the tracker onto the retroreflector, measuring a distance to the retroreflector with the tracker, capturing an image of the illuminated collection of target lights with the six-DOF camera;
- with one or more processors coupled to the tracker, determining a position of the collection of target lights on the six-DOF probe based at least in part on the measured distances and the captured images;
- and
- storing the measured position of the collection of target lights.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.