Mobile Camera for Measuring and Testing in the Working Area of Machine Tools 21 E, Hohwieler, R. Feitscher, and E, Uhlmann 21.1. Motivation and Vision For the development of production systems, the extent of flexibility, automation, and the mastery of operation of plants, and processes have to meet increasing demands. The com plexity of machines or the lack of transparency of procedures ‘may exceed the capability ofthe machine operator, wherefore intelligent machines with enhanced abilities ae significantly needed in the future. To push further automation of partial funetions and the integration of new sensory capabilities, manufacturer of machine tools and machining centers are permanently involved in the quest of new solutions for a ‘machine-integrated, process-oriented measuring as well as ‘monitoring process sequences and machine equipment. Whereas optical sensor systems and image processing became indispensable in the field of automation solutions, in which they are used in various appli suring and testing or detecting parts in transportation or handling, as far as the manufacturers of manufacturing plants and machine tools are concemed, the potential of these technologies has not been sufficiently tapped for their systems. This is mainly due to the specitic requirements, regarding robustness and easy integration into the machine and control systems, mechanical and electrical as well as, information-technical, deriving from the machine integrated ‘and production oriented use. With technological solutions as, they are available today, this could not be achieved with economically viable effor. Based on first positive experiences in using image-based sensors for measurement tasks in machine tools, machine tool manufacturers are interested in a fundamental system solution for the utilization of optical, image processing systems, which enable measuring and testing in the machine. EE Hohwieler (5) « R. Feseher E. Uhimann Institue for Production Systems and Design Technology TPK, ‘TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany e-mail: hoiwicler@ipk frau. de G. Schuh etl. (eds), Faure Trends in Production Engineering, In this regard, when choosing the method of resolution, a large extent of flexibility and adaptability concerning vari- ‘ous tasks is @ major incentive. Due to cable glands and long eable-lengths necessary for installation, the introduction of optical measurement tech- nology and vision systems into the encapsulated working area of machine tools is elaborate and expensive, even for stationary systems. The level of difficulty and expenses even increase, in case flexible use in the working area is realized by freely positionable sensors, regarding that induced cable ‘guidance by means of actuators is required, which in return show higher susceptibility, ‘The idea is to simplify the handling of optical measure- ‘ment and camera systems for image processing in a way that tools are used for both the machine manufacturer and the user. This comprises the integration into implemented mechanical interfaces, the usage of existing machine kine- ‘matics for motions of the optical capture system, the parameterisation and activation of the system by means of the control and the NC-program as well as information feedback of results into the control. To do so, the usage of wireless communication technology for image transmission to the control integrated image processing system as well as, ‘self-sufficient energy supply for the mobile capture system, will be developed and tested. This way, the mobile capture system becomes a beneficial and controllable machine ele- ment, both by the machine manulacturer and the user. In the collaborative project “Measuring and testing wi mobile cameras in the working area of production machine (Messen und Priifen mit mobilen Kameras im Arbeitsraum von Produktionsmaschinen” ~ MobiKAM),! funded by the BMBF, a technical basis will be created and innovative "Tie project MobiKAM is funded by dhe Federal Ministry of Education and. Rescarch (Bundesminiseriums fir Bildung une Forschung — BMBF) in the framework concept "Research for future production” in ‘the promotional progeam “Optical measurement” and managed by the project supervisor Karlsue (PTKA). 209 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-24491-9.21, 1 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013