A Versatile Hardware and Software Toolset for Computer Aided Inspection Planning of Machine Vision Applications

The digital workflow and the set of tools described in this article support machine vision engineering during specification, design and implementation in numerous ways. In addition to the core idea of cad based vision system development, a generic data container format, simulation tools for real-time and photorealistic rendering using measured material BRDF data, and a MATLAB/ROS-controlled two-lightweight robot setup for experimental verification of simulation results are presented as parts of a semi-automatic planning process for a laser triangulation system. The planning process includes the annotation of CAD data with GD&T tolerance information using the ISO/PWI 10303-238 (STEP-NC) standard, initial system configuration by a machine vision expert, image formation simulation, system performance evaluation based on metrics applied on synthetic images and the capturing of real images with camera and laser light source, each mounted to a 7-axis KUKA LWR IV lightweight robot. The economic benefits of time and cost reduction of machine vision system planning are discussed as well as drawbacks and limits of the suggested workflow and tools.