Patent ID: 6498653
Filing Date: 2002-12-24
Classification: G01B

Abstract:
A system for determining the degree of accuracy an object is moved along a given path in a space having at least two orthogonal axes by object moving apparatus having a different motor for imparting object movement relative to said respective axes to produce an overall object movement path, said apparatus having programming means having stored in the memory thereof desired object path position data relative to said axes at various reference times, and means responsive to said desired path position data for generating motor-energizing signals for said respective motors to desirably move said object along said desired path; said system comprising:one or more beam directing means for directing a beam of energy simultaneously parallel respectively to said axes if more than one such means is provided or parallel to one of said axes at a time if only one such means is provided and its beam is to be sequentially directed parallel to said orthogonal axes, at least one beam reflecting means associated with each beam directing means and to be positioned to directly receive the beam from its associated beam directing means, at least one of each of said beam directing means and said at least one reflecting means associated therewith being mountable on said object and the other being mountable on a relatively stationary surface, said at least one reflecting means associated with each beam directing means being sufficiently large to reflect such directed beam to ultimately return the beam to said beam directing means even as the object is moved in a desired path which deviates from the direction in which the beam involved is directed; and signal processing means including means responsive to the return of each reflected beam of energy to the associated beam directing means for developing actual object path position data indicating the actual displacement of said object relative to said axes at sampling times coincident with said reference times; and additional processing means including data collection, storage, comparing and data outputting means for collecting and storing said desired and actual object path position data relative to said axes at said reference and sampling times, and for comparing the stored desired and actual position data at said reference and sampling times and indicating the degree of position error relative to said axes at said sampling times.