US 12,168,270 B2
Manual tool tracking and guidance with inertial measurement unit
Christopher Hsu, Appleton, WI (US)
Assigned to Illinois Tool Works Inc., Glenview, IL (US)
Filed by ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS INC., Glenview, IL (US)
Filed on Jan. 22, 2016, as Appl. No. 15/004,801.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/106,283, filed on Jan. 22, 2015.
Prior Publication US 2016/0214198 A1, Jul. 28, 2016
Int. Cl. B23K 9/095 (2006.01); B23K 37/02 (2006.01); G01C 25/00 (2006.01); G01P 21/00 (2006.01)
CPC B23K 9/0956 (2013.01) [B23K 9/0953 (2013.01); G01C 25/00 (2013.01); B23K 37/0205 (2013.01); G01P 21/00 (2013.01)] 28 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system comprising:
a hand-held weld tool comprising a positioning and orientation measurement system having an inertial measurement unit (IMU);
a camera configured to capture images of the hand-held welding tool during a weld operation on a workpiece;
a portable fixture, comprising:
a holster configured to maintain the hand-held weld tool in a known position and orientation and in stationary state for calibration of the IMU; and
a sensor configured to detect when the hand-held weld tool is properly positioned in the holster, such that the processing subsystem can accurately perform calibration of the IMU; and
a processing subsystem configured to:
determine, based on data generated by the IMU, a weld position of the weld operation; and
compute, based on a weighted combination of the data generated by the IMU and data based on the images during the weld operation on the workpiece, one or more actual motion attributes for the hand-held weld tool.