Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Optical CNC

On Friday 08 November 2002 04:38 pm, you wrote:

> I've though about this a bit, and it would be *really* something
> slick to program a small camera, like the sensing element in an
> optical mouse, to read a variety of plain scales like the 6" steel
> ones we all have.
>
> I imagine that it wouldn't be hard to pick out a location accurate
> to a thou when two or three of the 1/64 lines are the whole FOV.
> Heck, some machinists can eyeball .005 with a scale on a good day.
>
> Further, if the program can distinguish long lines from short ones
> from shorter ones, and even recognize a "3", it wouldn't even need to
> be told where it is either.
>
> But the real advantage would be that the DRO strips would then be,
> er, ubiquitous and non-proprietary.
>
> Anybody up for something like that?
>
> Dave Kowalczyk
> Everett WA

I thought about this as well, but it's limited to 800 cpi... The DSP that
"looks" at the pictures taken by the camera is integral to the sensor, so
there's nothing you can do to improve the vision software without re-creating
the whole sensor from basic components :( . It might be possible to stagger
the mounting of several sensors to increase the composite resolution, but
that adds complexity to an otherwise brilliant scheme. Here's some data:

http://www.robogeeks.com/mousehack.htm

http://www.semiconductor.agilent.com/cgi-bin/morpheus/home/home.jsp?pSection=Optical+Navigation

Matt