Develop rapid three-dimensional surface measurement systems for quality inspection in the manufacturing industry

A general framework of automated dimensional inspection systems for the manufacturing industry is introduced in this dissertation. 3D surface inspection is a process to evaluate the quality of a part's 3D shape. A traditional inspection system usually uses a contact-based.;In this dissertation, two novel optical area sensing systems are developed for 3D shape inspection of lambertian surfaces and reflective surfaces. According to surface reflection property, a triangle-based area sensor is developed for measuring lambertian surfaces, and a back-imaging system is developed for measuring reflective surfaces. A feedback scheme is developed to improve the measurement quality. A CAD-guided robot area sensor planner is developed to estimate the viewing pose of a 3D sensing device relative to the part surface. By controlling the viewing position and orientation, the quality of the measured point clouds can be optimized for error map generation. The feedback approach is also applied in the back-imaging system for measurement optimization. The developed back-imaging system is an innovative technology for automated dimensional inspection of automotive glasses.