A coordinate measurement machine (CMM) includes a manually-positionable articulated arm having first and second ends. The articulated arm includes a plurality of arm segments and a plurality of rotary joints. The first end includes a connector configured to connect to a measurement probe. The second end includes a base for mounting the CMM. A housing of at least one rotary joint from the plurality of rotary joints has a cylindrical outer surface that engages a) the base or b) a connecting portion that connects the at least one rotary joint to another rotary joint from the plurality of rotary joints, the housing welded to the base or to the connecting portion.

A device for measuring the straightness of a rod-like work piece includes a support for the rod-like work piece. The support has multiple sections, each of which has a support surface. At least one force sensor is provided to measure the force applied by the work piece onto the support surface in a direction that extends essentially transverse to gravitational acceleration.

A portable coordinate measurement machine (CMM) includes an articulated arm including rotary joints. At least one of the rotary joints includes bearings; a shaft that engages an inner diameter of the bearings, the shaft configured to rotate about an axis of rotation of the bearings; a housing having at least one port that engages an outer diameter of at least one of the bearings; and at least one transducer configured to output an angle signal corresponding to an angle of rotation of the shaft relative to the housing about the axis of rotation. The shaft has two ends, the two ends may be concentric to within one tenth of thousands of an inch (0.0001), or the at least one port of the housing may have no portion whose diameter is narrower than the outer diameter of the first bearing or the second bearing.

A robot arm supporting a workpiece, a support mechanism in a form of a coordinate measuring machine supporting a detector head, and a fixation portion in a form of a contact block fixing the detector head to the workpiece are used to bring the contact block fixed to a table and the workpiece into contact to each other. The detector head measures the workpiece while a relative position of the detector head and the workpiece is fixed.

A coordinate measuring machine (CMM) for determining at least one spatial coordinate of a measurement point on an object, the CMM comprising a structure movably connecting a probe head to a base, the structure comprising a plurality of rotary joints and a plurality of links, wherein the CMM comprises a control unit configured to control motors in the rotary joints for driving the probe head relative to the base for approaching the measurement point and to receive angular data from measuring units in the rotary joints, wherein the control unit has access to distortion information about distortions occurring in the structure under a multitude of different distortion-influencing conditions, wherein the conditions comprise at least a current pose of the structure that is defined by the angles between the components.

A non-Cartesian coordinate positioning machine that includes an extendable leg assembly for positioning a component such as a measurement probe within a working volume of the machine. The extendable leg assembly includes a first member and a second member which move relative to one another when the extendable leg assembly changes length. The first member including an axial arrangement of magnets forming part of a linear motor for extending and retracting the extendable leg assembly, and at least one resilient member for absorbing at least some of any axial thermal expansion or contraction of the magnets in use.

A coordinate measurement machine includes a column that can move relative to a placement surface on which a workpiece is placed, a guide part that is provided on the placement surface, the guide part guiding the column, a scale of a linear encoder that is supported on a side surface of the guide part, and detectors that are provided on the column, the detectors detecting a relative displacement with respect to the scale. The detectors detect a displacement of the column in each of a moving direction and a vertical direction. A coordinate measurement machine further includes a deformation amount acquisition part that acquires an amount of deformation of the guide part relative to the scale on the basis of detection results of the detectors.

A system and a method for reliably monitoring a parameter, in particular a moment of inertia, required for determining a kinetic energy of an object that can be measured by means of a sensor of a coordinate measuring machine. The object is moved between various positions, with the object preferably being at least briefly at rest in each of the approach positions. The method comprises the steps of: a) initially determining the parameter, and setting the initially determined parameter as target value; b) moving the object from one position to a next position, and re-determining the parameter for a movement cycle between the corresponding positions; c) setting the re-determined parameter as an actual value; d) comparing the target value with the actual value; e) continuing the movement of the object if the comparison results in that the actual value substantially coincides with the target value, and returning to the step b) as long as a last position has not been reached; or f) outputting an error message if the comparison results in that the actual value deviates significantly from the target value.

A portable coordinate measurement machine (CMM) comprises an articulated arm having first and second ends, the articulated arm including a plurality of arm segments and a plurality of rotary joints, the first end configured to connect to a measurement probe and the second end configured to connect to a base. At least one of the rotary joints includes a shaft configured to rotate about an axis of rotation of the at least one of the rotary joints, and a rotary damping mechanism configured to provide controlled damping of rotational movement of the shaft about the axis of rotation.

A geometry-detecting machine for a slender body includes a fixed reference frame (30, 31) provided with at least one pair of constraint points (1) for the slender body and sensor element (28) for the spatial detection of the geometry of the slender body, wherein the constraint points are in the shape of vertical constraints points (1, 3, 5) coupled in pairs by interconnecting element (4, 34) in turn making up vertical constraint points to be coupled in pairs on multiple levels and wherein the interconnection element are pivoting arms, such to allow the slender body to meander freely in order to guarantee for the slender body an attitude as natural as possible.