A smooth surface measurement method by flexible contact using multiple fingers device

Abstract

Contact measurement technology is commonly used for analysis and modeling of three-dimensional (3D) object. This paper presents a contact measurement method, using a claw type probe based on a set of rotary encoders that can flexibly contact objects with efficiently multi-lines scanning. In this paper, a 3D measurement system by flexible contact of multiple fingers was built. The claw probe was set on a coordinate measurement machine. By moving the position of the claw for interpolation detection to improve the sampling rate, higher precision 3D reconstruction was achieved. Also, a compensation algorithm was proposed for this type detector to improve measuring accuracy. In the experiments, two surface models were produced by 3D printing as the test objects. By comparing the designed surface with the reconstructed surface, it is demonstrated that this system can effectively and softly measure smooth surface, like the back of human body, which is valuable for further study and use in rehabilitation massage, apparel design, and etc.