The phenomenal rise of collaborative automation systems over the past decade or so has seen collaborative technologies deployed on a growing number of quality control applications. Collaborative automation enables companies of all sizes to improve throughput and reduce cycle times on inspection tasks.

Engineers have historically used 2D drawings to convey product manufacturing information, even though they design products in 3D. But as quality control has become even more important, and as parts and components are becoming more complex to measure, the demand for automatic measurement programming has grown.

Machined parts commonly have sharp edges and corners that are “broken” for a variety of reasons in a process called edge break.

Zygo Corporation has announced the introduction of its latest generation of ZeGage™ 3D optical profiling instruments providing precise and rapid non-contact measurement of surface topography for enhanced quality and process control.

Here are two application examples where the combination of 2D and 3D provide results that cannot be achieved by either technology on its own.

OGP® introduces the newest version of its 3D CAD-based multisensor metrology software, ZONE3 Version 4, at IMTS. 

The use of computed tomography (CT scanning) for dimensional inspection is rapidly expanding as companies discover how this technology is the best solution for a wide range of dimensional inspection, flaw detection, and assembly verification applications.