Whether for the maintenance of complex components, such as aircraft engines, or for quality control in the automotive industry: virtual 3D models enable the precise documentation of large machines and their small details. To this end, researchers at Fraunhofer IOF developed the mobile handheld scanner goScout3D last year. It enables the 2D and 3D digitization of complex objects with a volume of several cubic metres with a particularly high spatial resolution of less than 0.25 millimetres.

On four paws to the digital twin

Previously, the scanner had to be moved around the object to be measured by hand to create these so-called "digital twins". This sometimes resulted in potential fatigue or incomplete measurement data. The solution: they combined the 3D scanner with a robot dog from the US company Boston Dynamics, known as Spot. "By integrating the sensor head previously developed in Jena with Spot, the measuring process of the goScout3D scanner should be automated in future and possible without the constant need for human supervision," explains Dr. Andreas Breitbarth, Head of the Image Processing and Artificial Intelligence Group at Fraunhofer IOF. "The robot dog can maneuver goScout3D autonomously through the measurement scene while maintaining the same measurement speed and distance."

Robot makes measuring procedures more flexible

Compared to conventional measuring robots, which are used along production lines, for example, where they are usually permanently mounted, it can move freely in space and on different types of surfaces. This means that the measurement object can be fully detected from all sides and at different levels - for example underneath a guide rail.

The goScout3D and Spot unit will be presented to the public for the first time at Control 2024. The measuring system will be presented at the international trade fair for technology and quality assurance in Stuttgart from April 23 to 26.

Control, Hall 8, Stand 8201