Patent ID: 7346417

Claim:
A method for removing and processing material with at least one effector, wherein the effector defines a volume and has a predetermined geometry, the method comprising: removing and processing material from an object with the effector, wherein the removing and processing comprises: manually guiding the effector in relation to the object; determining, using a navigation system, position and orientation of the effector in relation to at least one reference body as the effector removes material from the object; storing data representative of the position and orientation of the effector in relation to the reference body as the effector removes the material from the object; and supplying at least one of power and parameterization control commands to the effector as a function of at least one of a predetermined work volume for the object, volume of the material removed from the object and volume of residual material in the work volume, wherein the removed material volume and the residual material volume are determined based on the volume and the geometry of the effector and the position and orientation of the effector data.