Patent ID: 6366831
Filing Date: 2002-04-02
Classification: B25J,G01B,G05B

Abstract:
A three dimensional coordinate measuring system comprising:a movable arm having opposed first and second ends, said arm including a plurality of joints with each joint corresponding to a degree of freedom such that said arm is movable within a selected volume, each of said joints comprising a rotational transfer housing and a transducer housed in said rotational transfer housing, each of said transducers producing a position signal; a support base attached to said first end of said movable arm; a probe attached to said second end of said movable arm; and an electronic circuit including an interface for receiving said position signals from said transducer and providing digital position coordinates corresponding to the position of said probe in a selected volume; wherein said interface includes; a communication port for a host computer running at least one application program using digital position coordinates as input data; a memory containing data handling software specific for said at least one application program running on said host computer; and at least one microprocessor for executing said data handling software responsive to the specific application program currently running on said host computer, so that said digital position coordinates are pre-processed to be commensurate with data input requirements of the specific application program currently running on said host computer.