Touch Probe Measurement in Dimensional Metrology: A Review

Coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) are the standard displacement systems used for measurements in dimensional metrology. Since measurement with a touch probe mounted on a CMM provides high accuracy, repeatability, and reliability, it has been widely used for mechanical part inspection in manufacturing. The inspection process requires the use of several sensor orientations and optimal positioning of the part in order to measure all features. Recently, the field of probing path planning has become a huge and active research field. In this paper, various techniques aimed at generating the probe paths for part inspection are reviewed. Multiple issues related to the positioning of the part to maximise accessibility, analysis of probe accessibility to measure all inspection features, optimisation of the measurement sequence, distribution of measurement points, and collision avoidance are mentioned. The common research approaches and potential algorithms in this field are also discussed in this paper.