An integrated robot-scanner system for automatic measurements of 3D shapes

In the last few years, many methodologies of reverse engineering have been proposed for 3D shape measurement using optical systems. All the proposed 3D scanning solutions require user interactions concerning the alignment process of partial measures to reconstruct the complete shape of a target object. This paper presents an innovative solution based on the integration of a robotic arm and an optical stereo system, which minimizes user intervention both in the acquisition and in the reconstruction phases. The procedure is divided into two steps: 1) complete and accurate identification of the integrated system, using optical measurements of a reference surface (calibration process); 2) planning of scanning strategies in order to automatically obtain a complete 3D CAD representation. Results of experimental tests conducted on nominal samples and on industrial contexts are presented and discussed.