Automated Coordinate Measuring Machine Inspection Planning Knowledge Capture and Formalization

Capturing the strategy followed during a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) inspection planning session has been an extremely challenging issue due to the time-consuming nature of traditional methods, such as interviewing experts and technical documents data mining. This paper presents a methodology demonstrating how a motion capture-based system can facilitate direct and nonintrusive CMM operator logging for capturing planning strategies and representing in knowledge formats. With the use of recorded motion data, embedded knowledge and expertise can be captured automatically and formalized in various formats such as motion trajectory graphs, inspection plans, integrated definition (IDEF) model diagrams, and other representations. Additionally, a part program can be generated for driving a CMM to execute component measurement. The system's outputs can be used to help understand how a CMM inspection strategy is planned, as well as training aids for inexperienced operators and the rapid generation of part programs.