Absolute Interferometry for the Machine Tool Industry

在机器人定位、机器视觉、自动检测和测量中，对测量绝对距离的新型传感器的需求很大。该传感器具有测量非连续位置变化的能力，可为机器人、三坐标测量机和机床的闭环位置控制提供反馈测量。对于自动检测，高度精确的距离测量传感器将减少对机械触摸探头的需求，这是非常缓慢的。对于机器视觉来说，测量距离的能力将消除从强度图像中提取信息的复杂算法的需要。研究人员将对传感器技术在机床工业中的应用进行研究和分类，并进行实验，以证明其适用于一种机床传感器需求：测量由磨床去除的材料，并确定传感器的集成光学版本的初步设计。

There is substantial need for new sensors which measure absolute distance for applications in robotic positioning, machine vision, automatic inspection and gauging. With its ability to measure non-continuous changes in position, the sensor could provide feedback measurements for closed loop position control for robots, CMMs and machine tools. For automatic inspection, a highly accurate distance measuring sensor will reduce the need for mechanical touch probes which are very slow. For machine vision, the ability to measure range will eliminate the need for complicated algorithms which extract information from intensity images. The researchers will study and classify the applications of sensor technology in the machine tool industry and carryout experiments to demonstrate its applicability to one machine tool sensor need: the measurement of material removed by a grinding machine, and determine a preliminary design for an integrated optic version of the sensor.