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To retrieve the geometric information contained in CT images, a surface reconstruction method, which is based on the similarity between the corresponding contours of adjacent sections, is presented in this paper. The correspondence of the contours of adjacent sections is determined by incorporating the topological rules and overlaps of the convex hulls of the contours. Then, the similar vertices of the corresponding contours are matched using a two‐phase strategy, consisting of overall matching followed by local matching. Dissimilar portions are extracted to construct the triangulable spatial dissimilar polygons. Finally, triangular meshes interpolating the contours are obtained by triangulating the dissimilar polygons and similar portions separately. The reconstructed surface models can be used in rapid prototyping as well as visualization. Experimental results demonstrate the validity of the method in reconstructing the surface from severe dissimilar contours.

A new method of hollowing rapid prototype models based on STL models and their cross‐sectional contours is presented to meet the demands of hollowed prototypes in casting and rapid prototype manufacturing. Offsetting along the Z‐axis and cross‐sectional contour offsetting are employed to perform the hollowing operation. The process performs two‐dimensional Boolean operations on the polygons made by the offset contours of cross‐sectional contours instead of three‐dimensional offsetting of the STL models. This hollowing operation is especially suitable for hollowing STL models with free‐form surfaces. Detailed algorithms are described to generate the correct offset contours of an STL model. Adopting this method, the hollowing process is dramatically simplified and becomes more efficient. This method has been verified by practical case studies, and it is proved that this simplified hollowing operation can reduce the prototype build time and cost.

Active contour can describe target's silhouette accurately and has been widely used in image segmentation and target tracking. Its main drawback is huge computation that is still not well resolved. The purpose of this paper is to optimize the evolving path of active contour, to reduce the computation cost and to make the evolution effectively.

The contour‐evolution process is separated into two steps: global translation and local deformation. The contour global translation and local deformation are realized by average and normal gradient flow of the evolving contour curve, respectively.

When a contour is far away from the object to be segmented or tracked, the effective way of contour evolution is that it moves to the object without deformation first and then it deforms into the shape of the object when it moves on the object.

The method presented in this paper can optimize the curve evolving path effectively without complicated calculation, such as rebuilding a new inner product, and its computation cost is largely reduced.

This paper proposes an algorithm that constructs the topological hierarchy relationship of complex slice contours for layered manufacturing (LM). It facilitates toolpath generation for fabrication of multi‐material parts and virtual simulation for defect quantification and process optimization of LM. The algorithm consists of two main modules, namely the hierarchy‐sorting module and contour‐sequencing module. The hierarchy‐sorting module builds a parent‐and‐child list that defines the containment relationship of the slice contours, while the contour‐sequencing module arranges the slice contours in an appropriate sequence based on the user's requirements. Topological hierarchy relationship facilitates toolpath planning for multi‐material LM and also alleviates some major graphics problems in the virtual simulation of LM.

A simple, parallel‐mode tactile transducer for extracting three‐dimensional digital representations of complex engineering components is proposed. In addition, algorithms for computer processing of the tactile information to produce a compact structural description of the scrutinised object are evolved. The possibility exists that these techniques might be applied to future generations of robot devices with sensory feedback.

Owing to the complex space environment and limited computing resources, traditional and deep learning-based methods cannot complete the task of satellite component contour extraction effectively. To this end, this paper aims to propose a high-quality real-time contour extraction method based on lightweight space mobile platforms.

A contour extraction method that combines two edge clues is proposed. First, Canny algorithm is improved to extract preliminary contours without inner edges from the depth images. Subsequently, a new type of edge pixel feature is designed based on surface normal. Finally, surface normal edges are extracted to supplement the integrity of the preliminary contours for contour extraction.

Extensive experiments show that this method can achieve a performance comparable to that of deep learning-based methods and can achieve a 36.5 FPS running rate on mobile processors. In addition, it exhibits better robustness under complex scenes.

The proposed method is expected to promote the deployment process of satellite component contour extraction tasks on lightweight space mobile platforms.

A pixel feature for edge detection is designed and combined with the improved Canny algorithm to achieve satellite component contour extraction. This study provides a new research idea for contour extraction and instance segmentation research.

Adaptive slicing is a key step in three-dimensional (3D) printing as it is closely related to the building time and the surface quality. This study aims to develop a novel adaptive slicing method based on ameliorative area ratio and accurate cusp height for 3D printing using stereolithography (STL) models.

The proposed method consists of two stages. In the first stage, the STL model is sliced with constant layer thickness, where an improved algorithm for generating active triangular patches, the list is developed to preprocess the model faster. In the second stage, the model is first divided into several blocks according to the number of contours, then an axis-aligned bounding box-based contour matching algorithm and a polygons intersection algorithm are given to compare the geometric information between several successive layers, which will determine whether these layers can be merged to one.

Several benchmarks are applied to verify this new method. Developed method has also been compared with the uniform slicing method and two existing adaptive slicing methods to demonstrate its effectiveness in slicing.

Compared with other methods, the method leads to fewer layers whilst keeping the geometric error within a given threshold. It demonstrates that the proposed slicing method can reach a trade-off between the building time and the surface quality.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the accurate and steady control on trajectory tracking for wafer transfer robot, suppress the vibration and reduce the contour error.

The wafer transfer robot dynamic model is modeled. Through analyzing the characteristics of wafer transfer robot, cross‐coupled synchronized control is proposed based on the contour error model in task space to improve synchronization of the joints; the shaping for the joints by input shaper in task space is applied to suppress the vibration of the end effector during trajectory tracking. Then combining the cross‐coupled synchronized control with input shaping is proposed to improve accuracy and suppress the vibration.

The combination of cross‐coupled synchronized control and input shaping control method can improve the contour accuracy and reduce the vibration simultaneously during trajectory tracking. And the control method can be used to control the trajectory of wafer transfer robot.

The transfer station is in the center of the robot body. When the transfer station may deviate from the center of the robot body, the synchronizing performance of three axes on the same plane must be considered.

The proposed method can be used to solve the vibration and synchronizing performance problems on similar SCARA robots in semi‐conductor and liquid crystal display industry.

The proposed control method takes advantage of the cross‐coupled synchronized control and input shaping control method. This combination has improved contour accuracy and reduced vibration than applying other methods, and it has achieved better performance than using single one control method only.

Due to the inability to directly apply an intra-oral image with esthetic restoration to restore tooth shape in the computer-aided design system, this paper aims to propose a method that can use two-dimensional contours obtained from the image for the three-dimensional dental mesh model restoration.

First, intra-oral image and smiling image are taken from the patient, then teeth shapes of the images are designed based on esthetic restoration concepts and the pixel coordinates of the teeth’s contours are converted into the vertex coordinates in the three-dimensional space. Second, the dental mesh model is divided into three parts – active part, passive part and fixed part – based on the teeth’s contours of the mesh model. Third, the vertices from the teeth’s contours of the dental model are matched with ones from the intra-oral image and with the help of matching operation, the target coordinates of each vertex in the active part can be calculated. Finally, the Laplacian-based deformation algorithm and mesh smoothing algorithm are performed.

Benefitting from the proposed method, the dental mesh model with esthetic restoration can be quickly obtained based on the intra-oral image that is the result of doctor-patient communication. Experimental results show that the quality of restoration meets clinical needs, and the typical time cost of the method is approximately one second. So the method is both time-saving and user-friendly.

The method provides the possibility to design personalized dental esthetic restoration solutions rapidly.

A review is made of methods for calculating parameters characterizing crack tip behaviour in non‐linear materials. Convenient methods of calculating J‐integral type quantities are reviewed, classified broadly into two groups, as domain integrals and virtual crack extension techniques. In addition to considerations of how such quantities may be calculated by finite elements, assessment methods of conducting the actual incremental analyses are described.