Volvo uses light form modeller to capture 3-D model of car plant

Citation

(2002), "Volvo uses light form modeller to capture 3-D model of car plant", Sensor Review, Vol. 22 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.2002.08722aaf.001

Volvo uses light form modeller to capture 3-D model of car plant

Volvo uses light form modeller to capture 3-D model of car plant

Keywords: 3D, Automotive

AS NEW car sales are closely linked to the launches of new models, many car manufacturers are producing new models on a three-year cycle. Increasingly this is resulting in the design and installation of new car lines within existing facilities. Where this is the case, there is a paramount requirement for accurate information concerning the car plant facility. This needs to be used easily within whichever 3-D simulation package is currently in use

The Volvo scanning project

The Volvo Car Company has a strategic goal to develop both the product and the production process simultaneously. Concurrent engineering has been the panacea in the automotive sector for some time, as the turnover of model lifecycles is driven to become ever more rapid.

At the conceptual study stage, technical issues, such as the size of various parts on the new platform, are brought together in a complex process. In a bid to make the process easier, and to capture a virtual reality picture of the manufacturing plant, engineers at the Virtual Manufacturing Centre took a risk and opted for a then relatively new technique called Light Form Modeller (LFM). This allowed engineers, using laser distance measuring, to collect an enormous amount of geometrical data to create a 3-D model of the manufacturing plant (Plate 1). It is possible with this technique, to scan a complete car manufacturing plant in the space of two weeks, recording machines and equipment in great detail. In fact, as many as 11 million xyz-coordinates can be captured in as little as 90 seconds (Plates 2 and 3).

Plate 1 Volvo scan data

Plate 2 Volvo model from scan data

Plate 3 Model of work cell in robotstudio

In Volvo's case, the LFM team scanned the body and assembly shop, a total of 130 production areas, of which over half were complex robot cells. About 120 robots were situated in the cells and their grippers and welding guns were scanned in detail. Each area was rated according to the customer's engineering requirements and then the number and locations of the scans were planned accordingly. The data collected exceeded 40Gb and filled over 70 CDs. All the data was captured during a two week summer shut-down.

Based on the scanned data, over 50 detailed 3-D models describing complex production cells were delivered to Volvo. Several different point clouds have been added to a common coordinate system, and these served as the basis for data reduction to 3-D solid models. The models were then converted to both CATIA and RobCAD.

RTS advanced robotics

LFM has been developed over the last decade by RTS Advanced Robotics, the new name for Manchester-based UK Robotics Limited. The company, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of BNFL, was bought by the RTS Group at the end of last year.

RTS Advanced Robotics core business lies in supplying 3-D "Lasergrammetry and robotic remote handling services and products to industry. The company also specialises in the petrochemical, process chemical, and nuclear sectors and runs The Centre for Advanced Robotics Research. Since its inception, its renowned research teams have developed pioneering laser and robotic control systems which have subsequently developed into market leading products such as LFM and the Advanced Teleoperated Controller (ATC).

The RTS Group specialises in providing software, automation systems and equipment for a range of sophisticated manufacturing and scientific processes, including nuclear engineering, life sciences and industrial automation. Like RTS Advanced Robotics, the RTS Group is able to deploy unique technologies to meet its clients specific requirements. Foremost among these is FlexMilla - an advanced guidance system for robotic shaping applications, Vincenta - for plastic injection moulding automation and RTS VIPa - specialist machine vision technology.

ATS

Volvo managers became aware of the LFM technique through Rolf Berlin, a manager at ATS, the Scandinavian partner of RTS Advanced Robotics. ATS is a knowledge based company with many years experience of laser measuring devices and industrial automation. An increasingly rapidly growing part of the business concentrates on delivering CAD models of production areas as a base for geometrically correct simulation and off-line programming of flexible automated systems like industrial robot cells.

LFM technology

Producing a comprehensive virtual model of a cluttered piece of plant inevitably requires scanning to be carried out from several different viewpoints With LFM the whole data-gathering approach is interactive, giving the operator a 3-D workspace in which to fly. In this way, it is easy to see which areas have not been accurately scanned. The scanned accuracy is dependent on the distance between the scanner and the environment, which needs to be scanned.

Typically for automotive plant, scans are taken approximately 5-10m away from most plant details, but if a particular area requires significant details, such as pipe intersections or welding guns, then the scan is taken closer in. This means that the delivered CAD model can typically be specified to an accuracy of about 3mm.

LFM is a two-part process: scanning on site, followed by processing the data to produce models allowing LFMo quickly produce geometrically-accurate computer models of plant or structures from real-world data. It enables customers to make measurements of the plant on computers in the process office many miles remote from the site of the work.

Both partner companies believe that the potential for LFM is enormous. RTS Advanced Robotics and ATS are currently developing this technology further into a new business area for fast "Real Reality laser vision systems for online object evaluation by using automated solidisation of laser measurement data.

Further details about LFM can be found at www.robotics.co.uk and http://www.ats.se

Source: IFR