ABSTRACT
The automation of the inspection process requires the development of a computer-aided inspection planning (CAIP). This is due to the fact that the CAIP acts as the integration link between the CAD/CAM and computer-aided inspection (CAI) [1]. The integration process links the CAD/CAM packages and the coordinate measuring machine (CMM) to enable communication between the two. The feature data of the part model such as basic features (hole, bosses, rib, etc.) as well as complex features (free-form surfaces) have to be extracted to develop the CAIP. This extracted data, which is used to generate the inspection path for the inspection planning, is then sent to the CMM. The extracted information is, in fact, utilized to make decisions regarding setup, probe selection and orientation, probe accessibility, and probing points, which ultimately leads to the development of CAIP (Figure 6.1). Moreover, the inspection plan (CAIP) is made up of two primary components: the global inspection planning (GIP) and the local inspection planning (LIP) [1].
