3D modelling of industrial piping systems using digital photogrammetry and laser scanning

Industrial metrology is one of the fastest growing areas in advanced technologies, such as electronics and optics, computation speed, and it has been increased in recent years. There are several tools used in industrial metrology, such as total stations, digital photogrammetry, and laser scanning. Close range digital photogrammetry has been implemented for an industrial piping system in terms of installation, inspection, and replacement. Laser scanning is also used for industrial measurements to generate 3D coordinates points. In order to develop a 3D modelling strategy, this thesis focuses on the development, selection and design of photogrammetric procedures and project specific targets. This thesis also explores image-acquiring sensors such as digital cameras and laser scanners in terms of their capabilities and advantages. Based on experimental setup accuracy, measurements of piping systems are compared for applications of two different sensors. Effects of different surface materials are examined in laser scanning applications and several different types of materials are used for acquiring point clouds data. Measurement of pipes' diameters and residual analyses are conducted with different surface materials, which are used for industrial pipes. Significant improvement in laser scanning data acquisition is examined in terms of data quality both quantitatively and qualitatively during the residual analyses.

3D modelling of industrial piping systems using digital photogrammetry and laser scanning

Industrial metrology is one of the fastest growing areas in advanced technologies, such as electronics and optics, computation speed, and it has been increased in recent years. There are several tools used in industrial metrology, such as total stations, digital photogrammetry, and laser scanning. Close range digital photogrammetry has been implemented for an industrial piping system in terms of installation, inspection, and replacement. Laser scanning is also used for industrial measurements to generate 3D coordinates points. In order to develop a 3D modelling strategy, this thesis focuses on the development, selection and design of photogrammetric procedures and project specific targets. This thesis also explores image-acquiring sensors such as digital cameras and laser scanners in terms of their capabilities and advantages. Based on experimental setup accuracy, measurements of piping systems are compared for applications of two different sensors. Effects of different surface materials are examined in laser scanning applications and several different types of materials are used for acquiring point clouds data. Measurement of pipes' diameters and residual analyses are conducted with different surface materials, which are used for industrial pipes. Significant improvement in laser scanning data acquisition is examined in terms of data quality both quantitatively and qualitatively during the residual analyses.

Manipulation of Articulated Objects Using Dual-arm Robots via Answer Set Programming

The manipulation of articulated objects is of primary importance in Robotics and can be considered as one of the most complex manipulation tasks. Traditionally, this problem has been tackled by developing ad hoc approaches, which lack flexibility and portability. In this paper, we present a framework based on answer set programming (ASP) for the automated manipulation of articulated objects in a robot control architecture. In particular, ASP is employed for representing the configuration of the articulated object for checking the consistency of such representation in the knowledge base and for generating the sequence of manipulation actions. The framework is exemplified and validated on the Baxter dual-arm manipulator in the first, simple scenario. Then, we extend such scenario to improve the overall setup accuracy and to introduce a few constraints in robot actions execution to enforce their feasibility. The extended scenario entails a high number of possible actions that can be fruitfully combined together. Therefore, we exploit macro actions from automated planning in order to provide more effective plans. We validate the overall framework in the extended scenario, thereby confirming the applicability of ASP also in more realistic Robotics settings and showing the usefulness of macro actions for the robot-based manipulation of articulated objects.

Radiotherapy in oncological emergencies: fast-track treatment planning

Background and purpose To report on our clinical experience with a newly implemented workflow for radiotherapy (RT) emergency treatments, which allows for a fast treatment application outside the regular working-hours, and its clinical applicability. Methods Treatment planning of 18 emergency RT patients was carried out using diagnostic computed tomography (CT) without a dedicated RT simulation CT. The cone-beam CT (CBCT) deviations of the first RT treatment were analyzed regarding setup accuracy. Furthermore, feasibility of the “fast-track” workflow was evaluated with respect to dose deviations caused by different Hounsfield unit (HU) to relative electron density (rED) calibrations and RT treatment couch surface shapes via 3D gamma index analysis of exemplary treatment plans. The dosimetric uncertainty introduced by different CT calibrations was quantified. Results Mean patient setup vs. CBCT isocenter deviations were (0.49 ± 0.44) cm (x), (2.68 ± 1.63) cm (y) and (1.80 ± 1.06) cm (z) for lateral, longitudinal and vertical directions, respectively. Three out of four dose comparisons between the emergency RT plan calculated on the diagnostic CT and the same plan calculated on the treatment planning CT showed clinically acceptable gamma passing rates, when correcting for surface artifacts. The maximum difference of rED was 0.054, while most parts of the CT calibration curves coincided well. Conclusion In an emergency RT setting, the use of diagnostic CT data for treatment planning might be time-saving and was shown to be suitable for many cases, considering reproducibility of patient setup, accuracy of initial patient setup and accuracy of dose-calculation.