A High Accuracy, Low Cost 3D Scanning System

3d scanning is the process of converting physical measurements of an object into digital 3d data by capturing the x, y and z coordinates of the object's surface. Digitising small items less than 5cm cubed precisely (i.e. 20 micron accuracy) remains very expensive. While lower cost scanners have recently been developed these are unsuitable for capturing small, detailed objects due to poor accuracy and difficulty of use. There remains a strong unmet need for an accurate, low-cost, fully-automatic and compact system that can quickly digitise small objects. We will undertake a study to determine the feasibility of developing an accurate image-processing based scanning system that can capture small objects with an accuracy of 20 microns. We propose to evaluate the suitability of an innovative technique based on phase-shifted structured light.