US 12,072,300 B2
Flexible inspection system
Scott Arboleda, Commerce Township, MI (US); Francis Maslar, Grosse Ile, MI (US); Walter LaPlante, Bloomfield Hills, MI (US); and Paul Christopher Shaw, Amherstburg (CA)
Assigned to Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed by Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US)
Filed on Apr. 11, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/298,561.
Application 18/298,561 is a continuation of application No. 16/703,410, filed on Dec. 4, 2019, granted, now 11,624,713, issued on Apr. 11, 2023.
Prior Publication US 2023/0243759 A1, Aug. 3, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G01N 21/95 (2006.01); B25J 9/16 (2006.01); G01N 21/88 (2006.01)
CPC G01N 21/9515 (2013.01) [B25J 9/1679 (2013.01); G01N 21/8851 (2013.01); G01N 2021/9518 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of inspecting a vehicle being assembled, the method comprising:
receiving, by a robot controller, a vehicle inspection protocol (VIP) for a particular vehicle being assembled, the VIP comprising configuration information and checkpoints to be scanned on the vehicle based on the configuration information, the configuration information indicating an assigned model, one or more selected options, and one or more specific components to be installed to the particular vehicle, each checkpoint being a specific predefined area of the vehicle defined by at least one of the components installed on the vehicle and connections between the components installed on the vehicle;
commanding at least one robot having at least one scanner to move the at least one scanner per the VIP for the vehicle being assembled to respective locations defined by the areas of the checkpoints such that the checkpoints are scanned and at least one characteristic of each checkpoint is recorded; and
comparing, with a scanner controller, the at least one recorded characteristic of each checkpoint with at least one reference characteristic of each checkpoint.