Laitram, LLC

Compugrade, Inc

Identigrade

Soumitra Sengupta

Ronald H Burch

Mark E Sutton

Warren E Cancienne, Jr

James R Diefenthal

Bernard Bretagnolle

Henry A Merton

William D Radigan

Emmett J Lenaz, Jr

Somsak S Rodboon

James D Arthur

A computer-controlled robot cutting system for making angled or beveled cuts along a preselected path in a workpiece having a generally planar cutting surface. A cutting knife, such as a high-intensity fluid jet, is pivotably mounted in a support frame having two pairs of arcuate guides disposed at right angles to each other for motor-driven rotation of the cutting knife about orthogonal axes. The centers of curvature of both guides lie on a critical plane containing a pivot point about which the cutting knife pivots. An opposing workpiece gantry with horizontal and vertical slides for motor-driven translation of the workpiece along two axes also includes means for holding the workpiece such that its surface to be cut faces the cutting knife and lies in the critical plane. The workpiece is thus translated to define the cutting path on the obverse surface, while the cutting knife is pivoted to define the entry angle of the cut along the cutting path. Four motion controllers under computer control coordinate the motors driving each axis of rotation or translation. Because the obverse cutting surface of the workpiece is maintained in the critical plane containing the pivot point, pivoting of the knife does not change its entry point in the cutting surface, thereby simplifying motion control algorithms. Furthermore, because the cutting knife is pivoted and the workpiece is translated, the relatively massive gearing and movable frame structures are distributed between the cutting knife section and the workpiece gantry, lowering the inertia and enabling the use of lighter-duty motors.

Robot cutting system

An imaging system includes a method and apparatus for use in processing fish body sections that have been transversely cut. The system uses a frame with a pair of shrouds, each having an interior space that contains an illumination system for illuminating the fish section. A pair of video cameras housed respectively within the shrouds scan opposed flat sides of the fish section to produce images of the respective sides. Screens move behind the fish section in sequential fashion as each camera scans the fish section.

Imaging system for use in processing transversely cut fish body sections

Systems and methods for illuminating an object surface with light at varying angles of incidence and for optically evaluating the object surface for features and defects, etc. are disclosed. In a specific implementation the systems and methods, the target object comprises a coin and the illumination and evaluation techniques are used to accurately objectively evaluate the numismatic quality of the coin and/or identify the coin. Central to the illumination and evaluation techniques is the ability to apply a uniform confined beam of light to the surface of the target object to be imaged. The confined angles of incidence of the beam of light includes a perpendicular component angle of incidence range and a parallel component angle of incidence range relative to the object surface. The component ranges are defined such a light beam illuminates the object surface from a well-defined direction. The direction and the extent of light beam illumination may be varied by redefining one or both of the component angle of incidence ranges. In addition to identifying features and defects of a coin surface, the illumination and evaluation techniques are capable of imaging the surface lustre of the coin.

Systems for illuminating and evaluating surfaces

Systems and methods for illuminating and evaluating surfaces

Growing community of inventors

New Orleans, LA, United States of America

Soumitra Sengupta