Performance Evaluation of a Robot-Mounted Interferometer for an Industrial Environment

Area of Science:

• Metrology and Sensor Technology
• Robotics in Manufacturing
• Industrial Inspection Systems

Background:

• High-value manufacturing demands integrated, rapid, multi-sensor, and multi-scale inspection capabilities.
• Robotic deployment of sensors, including microscale measurement instruments, is increasing in factories.
• Standard evaluation methodologies for robot-mounted sensors are underdeveloped, limiting performance data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a detailed evaluation approach for lightweight, robot-mountable scanning interferometric sensors.
• To extend traditional evaluation methods for robotic sensor deployment in industrial environments.
• To demonstrate the value and applicability of the proposed evaluation through sensor characterization.

Main Methods:

• Development of an extended evaluation methodology for robot-mounted interferometric sensors.
• Comprehensive characterization of a Heliotis H6 interferometric sensor.
• Comparison of sensor performance in a robotic deployment versus traditional laboratory settings.

Main Results:

• The study provides a detailed performance characterization of the Heliotis H6 sensor.
• Results indicate the sensor's performance and limitations when robotically deployed.
• The evaluation demonstrates an effective strategy for the industrial robotic deployment of the sensor.

Conclusions:

• The proposed evaluation approach is applicable and valuable for robot-mounted sensors.
• The characterization provides crucial data on sensor performance and deployment limits.
• An effective strategy for robotic deployment of scanning interferometric sensors in manufacturing is demonstrated.