A three-dimensional measuring device comprising an arm having a free end provided with an interface body that includes a front face that has projecting therefrom a tubular coupling part for coupling to a first measuring member for measuring by contact and that is arranged to form a fastener plate for fastening either to a first grip member or else to a second measuring member, and the interface body also includes a side surface arranged to form a second fastener plate for fastening to a second grip member.

A method for measuring geometric errors of a numerical control turntable based on a four-station laser tracer system includes: establishing a self-calibration coordinate system and calibrating positions of tracking interferometers; respectively placing each of target lenses at three non-coplanar points that are above the numerical control turntable and keep certain distances from the numerical control turntable, controlling the numerical control turntable to rotate at a certain angular interval θ.sub.j, and based on positions of the tracking interferometers being known after calibration, solving coordinates of each of measurement points in the self-calibration coordinate system using a non-linear least square method; establishing a turntable coordinate system; perform a conversion between the turntable coordinate system and the self-calibration coordinate system; separating six geometric errors of the numerical control turntable using spatial position errors of the three points at a same position and using the linear least squares method.

An articulating probe for a measurement device includes a base platform, a rotor platform that is movable relative to the base platform, and a sensor element coupled to the rotor platform. The rotor platform is coupled to the base platform via a spherical parallel kinematic system.

A device and method for aligning a robot coordinate system, being a coordinate system of a robot for moving an operating point three-dimensionally, and a measuring instrument coordinate system, being a coordinate system of a three-dimensional measuring instrument which is capable of executing a light sectioning method and of which a position and attitude with respect to the operating point are unchanging, characterized by including the steps of: determining a relationship between the coordinate systems; radiating sheet-like slit light from the three-dimensional measuring instrument onto a reference object in the shape of a rectangular cuboid which is fixed; finding the attitude of the three-dimensional measuring instrument relative to the reference object; and moving the three-dimensional measuring instrument such that the attitude of the three-dimensional measuring instrument falls within a predetermined standard attitude range.

A position measurement method is used by a device including an imaging unit and a position detector that detects a position of the imaging unit to measure, using a detection value at imaging of a measurement point, position coordinates of the measurement point. The method for correcting the detection value from the position detector includes obtaining, with the device, position coordinates of predetermined indices (22) arranged two-dimensionally on a calibration plate (20) as an actual measurement value, obtaining, as a correction value, a difference between the actual measurement value and a true value resulting from transformation of position coordinates of the indices (22) with respect to a reference point on the calibration plate (20), and correcting the detection value from the position detector (8, 9, 10). The imaging unit (3) images measurement points (P) on the measurement target (3) to measure position coordinates of the measurement points (P).

Embodiments provide measurement systems having a coordinate measuring machine, a workpiece storage apparatus, and a robot for delivering workpieces from the workpiece storage apparatus to the coordinate measuring machine, and methods for orienting and operating such systems. Illustrative embodiments employ a reference geometry tool on the robotic arm, and kinematic locators on the coordinate measuring machine and/or on the workpiece storage apparatus to define a coordinate system common to the coordinate measuring machine, the workpiece storage apparatus, and the robot.

A method efficiently measures an object having a feature. The feature has a plurality of cross-sections that each have a surface. The method provides a coordinate measuring machine having a discretely indexable wrist coupled with a measuring probe. The wrist has a given wrist orientation, relative to an arm of the coordinate measuring machine, that is adjustable between a plurality of different orientations. The probe is able to measure different surfaces as a function of the different wrist orientations. The method segments an object to be measured into a plurality of segments that are each measurable with a given wrist orientation.

In an embodiment, a method for automatically generating object inspections includes generating a preliminary list of inspection directions for an object to be inspected. The method also includes checking a compatibility of the preliminary list of inspection directions with each of a plurality of surfaces of the object. The method also includes creating a master set of direction-surface pairs responsive to the checking. The method also includes selecting candidate inspection points for each direction-surface pair in the master set of direction-surface pairs. The method also includes, responsive to a determination that the plurality of surfaces each have at least one compatible inspection direction indicated in the master set of direction-surface pairs, generating an optimized set of direction-surface pairs using a minimization algorithm. The method also includes returning the optimized set of direction-surface pairs and corresponding inspection points.

A robot control system according to one or more embodiments may include a robot that performs a task in relation to a workpiece, a coordinate measuring machine that measures a three-dimensional shape of the workpiece, a control device that controls the robot in accordance with a measurement result from the coordinate measuring machine, and an image capturing apparatus that captures an image of the workpiece. An image capture interval for the image capturing apparatus is shorter than a measurement interval for the coordinate measuring machine. In a period after the coordinate measuring machine conducts a measurement and until the robot performs the task, the control device is configured to compute a position of the workpiece by referring to an image capture result from the image capturing apparatus.

A computer program product for numerically correcting an endpoint position of a Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) implemented on a computing unit, receiving as input temporally resolved information from a set of sensors attached to or integrated into the CMM, and to a method for numerically correcting an endpoint position of a CMM, wherein errors between a targeted endpoint position and an actual endpoint position reached during a measurement process are numerically compensated through the use of the computer program product.