(Metronor: Nesbru, Norway) -- Portable coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) of the articulated arm type have become an important tool for many businesses. Continuous improvements by various manufacturers have slowly improved the performance and practicality of these relatively inexpensive mechanical instruments, but the new SOLOlite by Metronor AS, a developer of electro-optical portable CMMs, provides a major step in practicality.

Brainchild of Metronor’s CEO Øyvind Røtvold, SOLOlite applies the proven Metronor single-camera technology (patented during the early 1990s) to provide a lightweight, carbon-fiber, handheld probe that completely avoids the need for a mechanical arm. Instead, a camera observes the probe and accurately determines the probe’s position and orientation.

 …