CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
May 2011
Product News
Kineo CAM Creates First Automatic Point Cloud Path Finding in Cooperation with Promation Nuclear
Kineo CAM collaborates with Promation Engineering, Canada to create the first commercial automatic path finder in 3D Point Cloud models.
Promation Engineering Ltd. is a leading designer and manufacturer of tooling, automation and robotic systems for the automotive and nuclear industries. Promation Nuclear Division offers dedicated services to develop concepts, build prototypes, perform testing and manufacture sophisticated robotic tooling to the nuclear industry worldwide.
“Benefiting from Promation’s expertise in laser scanning processes to produce as-built 3D plant models, we were able to enhance our software technology to automatically find access paths of equipments and mobile robots directly from a 3D Point Cloud model of an existing power plant. This technique opens the way to tremendous time and cost savings in maintenance, refurbishing and dismantling of existing plants in the energy field” explains Laurent Maniscalco, Kineo CAM CEO.
To understand the scope of this advance, we must know that until now, the as-built 3D reconstruction of an industrial plant model was a long and tedious process, especially in finding collision-free removal paths:
- within the area of the industrial plant and the equipment to work with, a 3D laser scanner is used to get a 3D Point Cloud model
- the 3D Point Cloud model is totally or partially, manually converted into a surface or polygonal 3D model
- the path of the mobile robot or the equipment to be removed is manually defined by the operator through a time consuming trial and error process using interference checking tools
- potentially the same step as step 3 for the inverse operation (dismounting – remounting)
- the production of documents, animations and videos
Kineo CAM software solution simply eliminates steps 2 to 4, so users can find paths directly in Point Cloud. The interference checker ensures dynamic and real-time collision checking; quickly detecting collisions or displaying distance measurements between 3D objects and Point Cloud models. What’s more, the collision-free path finder is automatic; the user only specifies the start and goal positions with the appropriate kinematic model of the robot or of the equipment and it returns several valid paths respecting distances of clearance to obstacles.
The software products, KCD for Point CloudTM and KineoWorksTM are available as software components for an easy integration in third party software applications, as well as part of KiteTM the standalone solution.
To see a video: Path planning and collision detection in Point Cloud
Become a member of the CIMdata PLM Community to receive your daily PLM news and much more.
Tell us what you think of the CIMdata Newsletter. Send your feedback.
CIMdata is committed to your privacy. Your personal information will never be sold or shared outside of CIMdata without your express permission.