Gesture technique points to defects

If a quality control inspector finds a defect in a car’s paintwork, for example, then a point of the finger sends the defect to the QS inspection system, store it and document it. The employee obtains visual feedback through a monitor that displays a 3D reconstruction of the bumper.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe engineered the intelligent gesture control system on behalf of the BMW Group.

‘Previously, the inspector had to note all defects that were detected, leave his workstation, go to the PC terminal, operate multiple input screens and then label the position of the defect and the defect type. That approach is laborious, time-intensive and prone to error,’ said Alexander Schick, a scientist at IOSB.

The gesture control system, by contrast, is said to improve the inspector’s working conditions considerably, and deliver substantial time savings as the employee can remain at a workstation and interact directly with the test object.