Robot-based gauging system for determining three-dimensional measurement data

A robot-based gauging system for determining three-dimensional measurement data of an object with respect to a reference frame, the gauging system of the type having a non-contact sensor mounted to a movable member of a robot for movement of the sensor relative to the object, comprising:

• a robot controller for controlling the movement of the movable member and reporting position data representative of the position of said movable member;
• a timing signal generator electrically connected to said robot controller for periodically generating and transmitting a synch signal, said robot controller reporting a set of said position data in response to each of said synch signals, thereby generating a plurality of position data sets;
• a non-contact sensor coupled to the movable member of the robot for capturing image data of the object, said non-contact sensor being electrically connected to said timing signal generator and responsive to each of said synch signals for capturing a set of image data representative of a portion of said object, thereby generating a corresponding plurality of image data sets representative of a plurality of portions of the object;
• and
• a vision system adapted to retrieve said plurality of image data sets from said non-contact sensor and to synchronize each image data set with a corresponding position data set, thereby generating a three-dimensional representation of the object.

A robot-based gauging system for determining three-dimensional measurement data of an object with respect to a reference frame, the gauging system of the type having a non-contact sensor mounted to a movable member of a robot for movement of the sensor relative to the object, comprising:

• a robot controller for controlling the movement of the movable member in relation to the object;
• a timing signal generator for periodically generating and transmitting a synch signal;
• a non-contact sensor coupled to the movable member of the robot for capturing image data of the object, said non-contact sensor being electrically connected to said timing signal generator and responsive to each of said synch signals for capturing a set of image data representative of a portion of said object, thereby generating a plurality of image data sets representative of a plurality of portions of the object;
• a photogrammetric measurement system for reporting position data representative of the position of said non-contact sensor by having a calibration field of observation and being positionable at vantage point such that said non-contact sensor is within the calibration field, said photogrammetric measurement system electrically connects to said timing signal generator and reporting a set of position data in response to each of said synch signals, thereby generating a plurality of position data sets;
• and
• a vision system adapted to retrieve said plurality of image data sets from said non-contact sensor and to synchronize each image data set with a corresponding position data set, thereby generating a three-dimensional representation of the object.