Using a FARO Arm for Coordinate Measurements in Optical Applications

Abstract

Optical applications make unusual demands of a portable arm: the parts are large, the tolerances are set by wavelengths rather than thousandths, and the things being located are often mounts and structures around an optic rather than the optic itself. Borden and Drouet d'Aubigny of the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, with Richard Nelson of New River Kinematics, describe using a FARO arm for coordinate measurements in that setting and what it took to make the results trustworthy.