METRIS
Robot Arm Joint Cover

Metrology company Metris wanted a design which would enhance their Robot CMM Arm, whilst maintaining maximum manoeuvrability with small housings for difficult measurement locations.

In achieving this, IDC was challenged to pack nearly 3500 parts into a housing with a system that provided 7 degrees of freedom.

With so many parts moving in different directions, IDC’s engineers had to work closely with the Metris design engineers to develop mechanical and casing solutions which were of minimal size.

The main difficulty to overcome when reducing the size and weight was in providing sufficient clearance for all the moving parts, while avoiding friction problems. Metris also introduced new safety features that had to be incorporated in the design.

IDC successfully achieved the size and manoeuvrability that Metris was looking for and the resulting RCA is now capable of accessing inner cavity locations of products, such as vehicle body shells.

Such unlimited accessibility is a major leap forward compared to traditional CMMs that have difficulty reaching enclosed part surfaces.

The RCA system itself combines a highly accurate internal 7‑axis articulated arm with an external skeleton driven by electric motors. This unique process creates a measuring robot that drives a Metris MMD laser scanner along the programmed motion path.

With Metris’ premium encoder technology and stiff carbon fibre axes, RCA intrinsically provides absolute measurement accuracy within an inspection volume of 4.2 metre diameter.