NSF awards Geomagic $100,000 grant to research Morse Theory in reverse engineering
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., December 1, 2003 - The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded Geomagic a $100,000 SBIR Phase I grant to research the use of Morse Theory in reverse engineering.
Morse Theory is about a century old and has been used to gain insight into difficult mathematical questions. In the computing world, it has helped researchers find discrete structure in continuous, smooth data. This is valuable, for example, in calculating and visualizing scientific phenomena such as temperature distribution in the ocean and electron densities of molecular structure.
Geomagic believes that Morse Theory can be applied to further automate reverse engineering, the process of capturing a physical object and transforming it into a surface model ready for manufacturing.
“We plan to use the discrete structure that arises from studying distributions as Morse functions to solve the problem of automatically extracting features in smooth surfaces,” says Dr. Herbert Edelsbrunner, co-founder of Geomagic.
The research could help deliver a sought-after advance in reverse engineering: the ability to automatically create surface patches that follow the direction and features of a triangulated model.
“The project should allow us to make advances that will enable fast and high-quality digital duplication of physical parts and objects,” says Dr. Michael Facello, director of R&D for Geomagic and the principal investigator for the study.
“This will have a significant impact on the estimated 90 percent of products in the U.S. not created using digital processes. My thanks to NSF for realizing the importance of this project and the impact Geomagic can make on manufacturing.”
About GeomagicGeomagic (www.geomagic.com) provides patented software that transforms physical products into accurate digital models, enabling closed-loop processes for design, engineering, mass customization and quality assurance. More than 2,000 users worldwide turn to Geomagic to provide the technology for customizing products, automating processes, and increasing throughput.
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