APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE POSITION AND ORIENTATION OF A FIRST AXIS OF A PART RELATIVE TO A KNOWN FRAME OF REFERENCE

摘要

Apparatus for determining the position and orientation of an axis (1) of a part (2) relative to a frame of reference (3), including at least two imaging devices (5a, 5b) at least one light source (6), a calibration device (7), releasably holdable by said part (2) about said axis (1), which has the at least one light source (6) on a face (8) thereof, such that when the device (7) is moved through a series of operating positions (9) light is projected or reflected from said source (6), which light is imaged by each of the imaging devices (5a, 5b) at the series of operating positions (9), and the imaging devices (5a, 5b) are operable to output signals (10a, 10b) indicative of the light from said source (6) corresponding to each of the operating positions (9) and a processor (11) for receiving and processing the output signals (10a, 10b) so as to determine the position and orientation of the axis (1) relative to the frame of reference (3).