Integration of CAD/CAI through Feature Extracted from Step File

In computer integrated manufacturing, all major stages of product life cycle are integrated with the aid of computer. Inspection is one of the stages of product life cycle. The inspection time of the product would he minimized if the inspection process is carried out with the help of computer. Computer aided inspection is carried out in different ways and image processing technique is one among them. In this technique, real time images of the parts are compared with the template which contains the image of the standard part of accurate size. The deviations from images are measured and are shown as errors in the manufacturing process. The major difficulty encountered in the present scenario is in the manufacturing of standard part. Instead of real time images of standard parts, the datafrom computer aided design model can be used for comparison. The dimensional data from the images are compared with those obtained from the STEP file of CAD model and the results are validated using coordinate measuring machine(CMM).