There is substantial need for new sensors which measure absolute distance for applications in robotic positioning, machine vision, automatic inspection and gauging. With its ability to measure non-continuous changes in position, the sensor could provide feedback measurements for closed loop position control for robots, CMMs and machine tools. For automatic inspection, a highly accurate distance measuring sensor will reduce the need for mechanical touch probes which are very slow. For machine vision, the ability to measure range will eliminate the need for complicated algorithms which extract information from intensity images. The researchers will study and classify the applications of sensor technology in the machine tool industry and carryout experiments to demonstrate its applicability to one machine tool sensor need: the measurement of material removed by a grinding machine, and determine a preliminary design for an integrated optic version of the sensor.
