A workpiece having at least one physical feature is placed into a workstation fixture having at least one adjustable locator. Measurement data reflecting the position of the at least one physical feature of the workpiece and measurement data reflecting the position of the at least one adjustable locator are obtained. A processor ingests and utilizes the collection of assembly data and the measurement data to define and store in memory at least one ordered pair correlating the physical feature and the adjustable locator. The processor defines a test vector that connects the position of the at least one physical feature and the position of the at least one adjustable locator. The processor to computationally discovers a best fit for adjusting the position of the adjustable locator to register with the physical feature by applying to the test vector a computational optimization process that seeks to minimize the length of the test vector to thereby generate a digital shim vector. The adjustable locator is then physically moved according to the digital shim vector, which is stored in association with the collection of assembly data.

Workpieces are placed in the workstation so one is in registration with a fixed locator. Measurement data are obtained reflecting the positions of the respective features of the workpieces and represented in a common reference frame associated with the fixed locator. A processor uses the collection of assembly data and the measurement data to define and store ordered pairs of mating feature locations. The pairs are then reoriented using a computationally discovered best fit. The position of a feature demarked for registration with the adjustable locator is calculated and the adjustable locator is caused to move to the calculated position of the feature demarked for registration thereby establishing a best fit orientation of the mating workpieces in physical space. The mating workpieces are then positioned in said best fit orientation by registration with said fixed and adjustable locators and then mechanically joining the mating workpieces.

A method of processing a workpiece to divide the workpiece into a plurality of device chips includes a dividing step of dividing a workpiece held on a holding table to produce a plurality of device chips from the workpiece, an image capturing step of capturing an image of the workpiece while the dividing step is being carried out or after the dividing step has been carried out, a detecting step of detecting from the image whether there is a chip fly-off from the workpiece or not and a chip fly-off region where a chip fly-off has occurred, and a warning step of warning of at least either one of a cause of the chip fly-off and a countermeasure against chip fly-offs.

A numerical controller of the invention includes an overlap control unit that detects a reference value minimizing a synthesized velocity for a plurality of control axes calculated based on table format data in an overlap period in which the synthesized velocity is equal to or lower than a threshold set in advance, that finds an overlap quantity as an amount in the reference value of overlapping of travels of the control axes after the detected reference value with travels of the control axes before the detected reference value, that advances the travels of the control axes after the reference value minimizing the synthesized velocity by the overlap quantity, and that calculates post-correction travels resulting from superposition of the travels of the control axes after the reference value on the travels of the control axes before the reference value minimizing the synthesized velocity.

A method and apparatus for controlling a site-specific activity at a plurality of remote locations, for example, the inspection of geographically remote equipment or the gathering of data for a census. A mobile operator transports a portable tool to a plurality of locations where a site-specific activity is to be conducted. The portable tool includes a location detection device. Processing of data using the portable tool is enabled only when the portable tool is located proximate a designated site, as determined by the location detection device. In various embodiments, the enabled site-specific activity may include data recordation, data transmission, data reception, data processing, and/or the display of a data entry form.

An object of the invention is to provide a positioning apparatus and a positioning control device that may perform precise positioning by suppressing relative displacement of a movable point and positioning target objects. In a positioning apparatus including a movable stage, a stage position detector that detects a position of the movable stage, a control device that performs positioning of the movable stage, a positioning target object for positioning of the movable stage, and at least one or more sensors in a structure of the positioning target object or the movable stage, the control device includes an amount of relative displacement estimation unit that estimates an amount of relative displacement of the movable stage and the positioning target object using information of the sensor and information of the stage position detector, and a unit that controls the position of the stage using information calculated by the amount of relative displacement estimation unit.

A workpiece having at least one physical feature is placed into a workstation fixture having at least one adjustable locator. Measurement data reflecting the position of the at least one physical feature of the workpiece and measurement data reflecting the position of the at least one adjustable locator are obtained. A processor ingests and utilizes the collection of assembly data and the measurement data to define and store in memory at least one ordered pair correlating the physical feature and the adjustable locator. The processor defines a test vector that connects the position of the at least one physical feature and the position of the at least one adjustable locator. The processor to computationally discovers a best fit for adjusting the position of the adjustable locator to register with the physical feature by applying to the test vector a computational optimization process that seeks to minimize the length of the test vector to thereby generate a digital shim vector. The adjustable locator is then physically moved according to the digital shim vector, which is stored in association with the collection of assembly data.

A numerical controller of the invention includes an overlap control unit that detects a reference value minimizing a synthesized velocity for a plurality of control axes calculated based on table format data in an overlap period in which the synthesized velocity is equal to or lower than a threshold set in advance, that finds an overlap quantity as an amount in the reference value of overlapping of travels of the control axes after the detected reference value with travels of the control axes before the detected reference value, that advances the travels of the control axes after the reference value minimizing the synthesized velocity by the overlap quantity, and that calculates post-correction travels resulting from superposition of the travels of the control axes after the reference value on the travels of the control axes before the reference value minimizing the synthesized velocity.

An object burr processing machine for trimming object burr, comprises a machine base, a positioning seat erected on the machine base, a processing arm provided on the positioning seat, an object stage coupled with the machine base for placing object, and control device. The control device comprises an object sensing unit, a processing path setting unit, and a process control unit. The object sensing unit is able to sense the shape of the object. The processing path setting unit is able to define a processing path based on the shape of the object. The process control unit communicates and links to the processing arm, the object stage, the object sensing unit, and the processing path setting unit. During the burr trimming process, the process control unit can use the established processing path to control other devices to conduct the burr trimming process to the object, which greatly increases the convenience and efficiency of the processing.

Workpieces are placed in the workstation so one is in registration with a fixed locator. Measurement data are obtained reflecting the positions of the respective features of the workpieces and represented in a common reference frame associated with the fixed locator. A processor uses the collection of assembly data and the measurement data to define and store ordered pairs of mating feature locations. The pairs are then reoriented using a computationally discovered best fit. The position of a feature demarked for registration with the adjustable locator is calculated and the adjustable locator is caused to move to the calculated position of the feature demarked for registration thereby establishing a best fit orientation of the mating workpieces in physical space. The mating workpieces are then positioned in said best fit orientation by registration with said fixed and adjustable locators and then mechanically joining the mating workpieces.