For many industrial facilities, change is frequent. A normal week might involve updating equipment layouts, retooling assembly lines, adding new machines, or removing end-of-life systems. Manufacturing and logistics centers make these changes regularly in order to optimize efficiency, accommodate new products, offer new capabilities, and serve new customers.

Whenever there is a great deal of activity in a large industrial environment, managing the details can be both operationally and logistically difficult. Teams need an accurate view of facilities and assets, but there is simply not enough time to examine everything manually.

To keep track of it all, companies are turning to digital twins—living, virtual models of facilities and assets that allow various stakeholders to remotely monitor, analyze, and control the current state of physical counterparts.

The challenge of any digital twin is keeping it updated with the latest information about the site. One way this is accomplished is reality capture. This refers to the collection of unstructured spatial or volumetric data to document and replicate a physical environment. It can be done with a variety of technologies, including photography, videography, high-resolution 360-degree imaging, and laser scanning.

While manual approaches can be effective for infrequent updates, they are less practical for the routine data capture necessary for more dynamic environments. Manual reality capture is time-consuming and expensive, whether it is handled in-house or outsourced to a service provider. As a result, companies may be forced to choose between straining the schedule and budget or capturing data less often than is optimal for their needs.

Laser Scanning Enables Detailed Reality Capture

Laser scanning helps sites collect detailed point cloud data that can be easily rendered and converted into a digital 3D model.

There are several laser scanning modalities, all of which work in a similar way: the scanner directs a laser at the surface of an object and measures the time it takes for the laser light to return. These measurements make up the point cloud—millions of data points that digitally represent objects and environments in three dimensions.

Point cloud rendering captured with the Leica BLK ARC

Terrestrial scanners are mounted on tripods and must be moved from location to location and set up each time. They provide the highest resolution results, but the process can take days or weeks depending on the size of the facility. This makes them impractical for routine scanning.

Handheld scanners capture information quickly and easily while sacrificing some precision in imaging. Wearable scanners are large, heavy devices that an operator carries while walking around a facility. Both require the use of in-house or outsourced skilled labor.

Robotic laser scanning combines the efficiency of handheld laser scanning with the time and cost savings of autonomous operation, offering a more practical approach for routine reality capture.

Autonomous Laser Scanning with Spot

Spot integrates with the Leica BLK ARC, a mobile laser scanning module specifically designed to work with autonomous robots. The BLK ARC mounts directly to Spot and uses its sensors to capture detailed, full-color point cloud data.

Autonomous laser scanning with Spot uses a workflow very similar to industrial inspection.

For current Spot users, any existing missions can be converted to laser scanning missions. This means you can start scanning almost immediately without additional recording. All of Spot’s missions are managed remotely from Orbit software, where they can be scheduled or deployed on an ad hoc basis.

Spot can perform static scans—stopping periodically to capture high-resolution data. Or, it can accelerate the process with continuous scanning—capturing lower-resolution data while in motion. Continuous scans maximize coverage, while static scans are slower but capture additional detail.

After data is collected, simply import to your preferred processing software.

Unlock More Value with Spot

Why use robots for laser scanning? In short, Spot equips teams to increase the frequency of reality capture. Spot’s autonomy enables more consistent results that are less resource-intensive to deliver than manual scanning methods. Teams can deploy Spot as often as necessary without disrupting operations or taking employees away from other work.

Furthermore, laser scanning is just one way Spot supports your digital twin initiatives. Not only can you automate reality capture, you can also automate routine equipment inspections. Spot collects thermal, acoustic, and visual inspection data used to predict maintenance issues, catching early indicators of failure before they lead to downtime. Since Spot can use the same mission recordings for scanning and inspections, you can start maximizing the value of your robotic fleet with little additional setup.

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Three-dimensional facility visualizations and asset performance data are building blocks of a digital twin. Data capture can be costly and time-consuming, but autonomous robotic solutions make it easier for teams to manage routine checks needed to monitor the current state of complex facilities.

If you want to learn more about reality capture and industrial inspection with Spot, register for our next webinar: Autonomous Reality Capture for Industrial Facilities.