Despite a laser tracker’s many capabilities, its main function presents some limitations that can make it difficult to measure certain features of a part. Line-of-sight or scanning surfaces with a small radius or contour may be a challenge when using only a laser tracker.

Variation Reduction Solutions Inc. (VRSI) is an independent integrator of machine vision and applied metrology technologies for automated manufacturing. The company focuses on achieving disruptive gains in assembly-process accuracy and efficiency through the innovative application of measurement technology and data automation.

Since 1975, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required that all prescription tablets or capsules have a unique identification in terms of size, shape, color, and imprint. Drug makers use the imprints both to identify the chemical substance and dosage and for promotional purposes. Acceptable identification has traditionally been achieved by printing, debossing, or embossing. Debossing is pushing the image below the surface level of the product, and embossing is pushing the image above the surface level of the product.

Machine vision systems rely on quality images for quality output. High-quality images enable a system to accurately interpret the information extracted from an object under inspection, resulting in reliable, repeatable system performance. The quality of the image acquired in any vision application is dependent on the lighting configuration: The color, angle, and amount of lighting used to illuminate an object can mean the difference between a good image, resulting in good performance, and a poor image, yielding poor results.

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created a tunable superconducting circuit on a chip that can place a single microwave photon (a particle of light) in two frequencies, or colors, at the same time.

This curious “superposition,” a hallmark of the quantum world, is a chip-scale, microwave version of a common optics experiment in which a device called a beam-splitter sends a photon

Traditionally, 3-D dimensional inspection was performed in the quiet, stable, spotless, and controlled environment of quality labs. But during the past few decades, manufacturers have been increasingly interested in measuring devices that are both comprehensive in scope and portable. Nowadays, measurement has broken outside the labs, mainly because successful companies need to be able to produce quickly and accurately to keep their competitive advantage.

A Minnesota-based manufacturer of high-quality ATV, snowmobile, and motorcycle parts and accessories had a design and development problem with a snow blade that created a lot of time-consuming rework. Thanks to 3-D scanning from GKS Global Services, the problem was recently solved. 

You’ve heard about “measuring training effectiveness” but aren’t quite sure how to do it. You’ve been filling out training attendance sheets for as long as you can recall, and they have served the purpose.

Several of the polished gears are still standing on carpeted pedestals shortly after the InnoTrans—the world’s most important railway transport event. They were developed and manufactured by Henschel to help trains deliver their passengers quickly, safely, and reliably. One of the locomotive axle gears presented at the trade fair, for example, will be used in Russian trains for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Cars scream around the track at speeds approaching 200 mph, yet a 500-mile NASCAR race can be decided by a few tenths of a second. To be a winner, NASCAR teams seek any advantage they can create. However, NASCAR has strict guidelines that specify nearly every aspect of the “stock” car. For BMI Corp., experts in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, designing the most aerodynamic cars that conform to NASCAR’s restrictions means using leading-edge technology.