The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 02, 2000
Filed:
Nov. 05, 1998
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An apparatus is presented for extracting configurational features of an object formed by a number of surfaces with a two-dimensional laser pattern. Changes in the shape can be tracked, and speedy three-dimensional measurements are made possible in a small memory area without requiring parameter adjustment. The device comprises a two-dimensional laser pattern generating device 61 which projects laser light in a desired two-dimensional pattern configuration, a three-dimensional position calculating device 62 which synchronizes the timing of the laser light illumination with the timing of the detection of two-dimensional points. Three-dimensional coordinates of a surface point are rapidly calculated, then the surface parameters are determined by the three-dimensional positions of a number of points (three points or more). A pattern information generating device 63 varies the pattern to be projected in accordance with the surface parameters so obtained, and a pattern recognition device 64 controls the movements of a robot in accordance with variations in configuration based on the edge lines, vertexes and other features determined by a number of plane surfaces.