The PosEye® sensor has been developed by PrintDreams sister company MEEQ AB. There are several similarities between PosEye and PrintDreams own sensor OptoNav™. Both of them consist of an optical channel with lenses that conduct light into a CMOS-sensor. Both run several algorithms on some sort of CPU and both output coordinates as a result of their measurements.
Working principles of PosEye
The PosEye sensor measures the direction of its lines of sight to visible pre-determined reference
points. These points may be passive e.g. reflecting tape, or active e.g. diodes.
If passive reflective tape reference points are used infrared light is emitted
by the PosEye measurement unit. With knowledge of the position of the reference
points, in an appropriate coordinate system, PosEye is able to calculate
its own absolute position, in six degrees of freedom (6DOF) - x, y, z and three
direction coordinates, to a very high accuracy.
Application examples
• handheld
joystick, for example, in order to manually control a robot and move it to
a particular spot.
• position sensor mounted on a robot in the vicinity of its work point.
• sensor for fixture control.
When the technology
is used as joystick to control a robot; the robot performs movements
identical in relation to the operator's hand movements. This gives a complete
concomitance in a way that is intuitively correct for the operator.
The system can operate wireless and can be designed to operate as a joystick without a
platform. When it is used as position sensor on a robot; it gives the robot's
pose (position and orientation) in a desired coordinate system, e.g. the workshop
coordinate system, independent of the robot.
The robot mounted system looks like a small cupola and has the size of a small coffee-cup.
The system used for quality assurance in a fixture control, provides a number of
quantifiable advantages, like automatic control during production, control of
distance, non contact control and dynamic eligible accuracy.
PosEye - Flexibility and possibilities
The system measures
its own absolute position in relation to a number of reference points, without
drifting, and after the first, simple, commissioning, the system defines its
exact position directly at power on. The PosEye reference points can be
reflected, moved or be hidden without disturbing the result. The system knows
its own and its references' correct position and thereby eliminates incorrect
references and can alert the supervising system.
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PosEye can use several groups of reference points concurrently, which is important
for concurrent work against an AGV* during movement and against permanent
pallets.
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PosEye can easily be given increased accuracy on a special place by placing the reference
points closer to that place, and it is very easy to add or remove reference
points.
PosEye can measure its position with an accuracy of 0,1 mm and measure its orientation
with an accuracy of 0,1 millirad. PosEye can work with 100 Hz and a delay
of 15 milliseconds or better.
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Electro-optical (IR) sensor system that measures its own absolute position
and orientation in relation to one or more groups of active or passive references.
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Not sensitive to disturbances such as passing items, reflections, mirror
references, etc.
PosEye works in tough environments e.g. in workshops.
PosEye
calibrates itself by measuring the reference points' coordinates and directions.
No drift, uses low cost references, and several PosEye systems can use
the same references.
High redundancy (the system alerts if some reference has been moved).
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The work area and the accuracy can easily be increased.
* Automatic Guided Vehicle, “carrier”, self moving
(mounting-) platform.
PosEye® is
protected by a number of patents and a registered or applied for trademark in
most leading markets.
More information about PosEye
