Location tracking and motion control of automated marking device
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising a holonomic-motion crawler vehicle, an actuator and a plurality of optical targets mounted to said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle, said optical targets being arranged in a pattern, and a marking device coupled to said actuator,wherein said actuator has a first state in which said marking device moves relative to said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle from a retracted position to an extended position, and a second state in which said marking device moves relative to said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle from said extended position to said retracted position, andwherein said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle comprises:
- a frame comprising first and second suction;
a plurality of wheels rotatably mounted to said frame, each wheel comprising a respective plurality of rollers having axes of rotation not parallel to an axis of rotation of said wheel;
a plurality of motors equal in number to the number of wheels, each motor being operable to drive rotation of a respective one of said wheels; and
first and second controllable suction devices for producing respective suction forces in said first and second suction zones when said wheels are all in contact with a surface.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system in accordance with one embodiment comprises a marking device attached to a holonomic-motion crawler vehicle capable of movement on non-horizontal surfaces. Modular attachment and motion control interfaces on the platform allow attachment of various types of marking and non-destructive inspection (NDI) sensor modules. The crawling vehicle marks the location of sub-surface features on an aircraft skin or overlaid patch (doubler) using a pen or sticker or tape applicator that is guided based on either a 3-D CAD model or NDI data collected as the vehicle crawls. A second embodiment utilizes an automated NDI scanner to collect 2-D image data of the substructure to enable manual or automated feature/edge selection for marking. Location tracking of the marking device can be implemented using a local positioning system or a motion capture system.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising a holonomic-motion crawler vehicle, an actuator and a plurality of optical targets mounted to said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle, said optical targets being arranged in a pattern, and a marking device coupled to said actuator,
wherein said actuator has a first state in which said marking device moves relative to said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle from a retracted position to an extended position, and a second state in which said marking device moves relative to said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle from said extended position to said retracted position, and wherein said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle comprises: -
a frame comprising first and second suction; a plurality of wheels rotatably mounted to said frame, each wheel comprising a respective plurality of rollers having axes of rotation not parallel to an axis of rotation of said wheel; a plurality of motors equal in number to the number of wheels, each motor being operable to drive rotation of a respective one of said wheels; and first and second controllable suction devices for producing respective suction forces in said first and second suction zones when said wheels are all in contact with a surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A system comprising:
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a target object having a surface; a holonomic-motion crawler vehicle in contact with said surface and located at an initial location relative to a frame of reference of the target object; an actuation system for causing said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle to move relative to the frame of reference of the target object; a marking device supported by said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle; an actuator for causing said marking device to move relative to said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle between a retracted state wherein a part of said marking device is not in contact with said surface and an extended state wherein said part of said marking device is in contact with said surface; a location tracking system programmed to be capable of determining a current location of said part of said marking device relative to the frame of reference of the target object when said part of said marking device is in contact with said surface; and a motion controller programmed to be capable of controlling motion of said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle relative to said surface and controlling motion of said marking device relative to said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle, the motion of said holonomic-motion crawler vehicle relative to said surface being a function of a difference between said current location of said part of said marking device as determined by said location tracking system and a target location of said part of said marking device. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of marking locations on a surface, comprising:
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moving a holonomic-motion platform over a surface area along a programmed motion path by causing omni wheels of the holonomic-motion platform to rotate; scanning the surface area using a scan probe mounted to the platform as the holonomic-motion platform is moved along the programmed motion path to acquire scan data, wherein said scan data comprises subsurface feature data; correlating model feature data with said subsurface feature data; selecting a target location on the surface area to be marked based on results of said correlating step; moving the holonomic-motion platform over the surface area to a location whereat a part of a retracted marking device carried by the holonomic-motion platform would overlie said target location if the marking device were extended; and extending the marking device so that the part of the marking device contacts the surface or a patch overlying the surface. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for marking a surface on a target object using a computer-controlled holonomic-motion crawler vehicle that moves on a plurality of omni wheels and carries a marking device and a non-destructive scan probe, said method comprising:
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causing the omni wheels of the holonomic-motion crawler vehicle to rotate so that the non-destructive scan probe scans an area of the surface to acquire a scan image of that scanned surface area; selecting a feature having a target location within the scanned surface area; causing the omni wheels of the holonomic-motion crawler vehicle to rotate until a part of the marking device overlies the target location; and actuating the marking device so that the part marks the target location. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification