Patent ID: 8849015

Claim:
A system for haptically enabled, three-dimensional scanning of a tangible object, the system comprising: a haptic interface device configured to provide haptic feedback to a user and receive input from the user during movement of an implement of the haptic interface device during three-dimensional scanning of a tangible object, wherein the implement comprises a camera; a graphical interface configured to provide graphical feedback to the user during three-dimensional scanning of the object; and a three-dimensional scanning application in communication with the haptic interface device and the graphical interface, wherein the scanning application, during scanning of the object: (a) obtains an image of the object captured by the camera upon activation of a user command; (b) determines, via a processor, a haptic guide at one or more positions and/or orientations in space in relation to the object from which further images are acquired and used for construction of a three-dimensional virtual representation of the object, wherein the haptic guide is determined using at least the image obtained in step (a); (c) delivers force to the user via the haptic interface device according to the haptic guide; (d) repeats one or more of steps (a) to (c) as additional images of the object are acquired; and (e) produces a three-dimensional virtual representation of the object using a subset of the acquired images, wherein the haptic guide is identified to facilitate further acquisition of images at the one or more positions and/or orientations in space in relation to the object to fill voids in the produced three-dimensional virtual representation, when used in combination with the previously obtained images.