What is Laser Cutting?

Laser cutting is a machining process that uses a high-energy laser beam to cut through any material. Laser stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. It is one of the most popular types of industrial cutting processes. Lately, laser cutters have also become prevalent in small workshops, hobbyists, businesses, and schools. Laser cutting works on cutting every material regardless of its physical properties.

What are the Different Types of Laser Cutting Processes?

CO2 Laser Cutting

In CO2 laser cuttings, the laser amplification occurs through a CO2 gas discharge. CO2 lasers are one of the earliest and most popular types of lasers. The gas discharge isn’t entirely CO2. It contains CO2, Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Xenon, and Helium. C02 laser cutting comes with two options: using Oxygen or Nitrogen gas. Oxygen gas is preferred for laser cutting thicker materials. Nitrogen gas is preferred for laser-cutting thin sheets. Using oxygen C02 laser cutting creates an oxide layer on the cut surface. Pre-treatment processes such as blasting are done on the workpiece to avoid this.

Fiber Laser Cutting

Fiber laser cutting uses optical fiber for light amplification instead of conventional gas discharge. Light emitted through laser diodes passes through the optical fiber. The resultant light beam is sufficiently strong to melt away stainless steel up to 1 cm in thickness. A strong airflow system often accompanies the light beam. The airflow pushes away the molten material for a clean cut. The fiber optics of these lasers utilize several elements like Ytterbium, Neodymium, Erbium, and Dysprosium.

Nd:YAG Laser Cutting

Nd:YAG stands for Neodymium-doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd:Y3Al5O12). Nd:YAG crystals are used in lasers for amplified beam instead of gas discharge or fiber. These lasers are capable of both continuous and pulsed laser beam.

Excimer Laser cutting

Excimer stands for Excited Dimer. Excimer laser cutting uses an ultraviolet laser beam. Excimer laser cutting is used in small-scale precision cutting processes. Some common examples are eye surgery, microelectronics, and semiconductor cutting.

Direct Diode Laser Cutting

Direct Diode Laser (DDL) uses a laser beam directly from the diodes. There are no amplification mediums like gas discharge or fiber. The diodes directly produce a strong enough laser beam for the cutting process. Direct diode laser cutting has a very high efficiency.

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Additive manufacturing (AM) or additive layer manufacturing (ALM) is the industrial production name for 3D printing rapid prototyping, a computer controlled process that creates three dimensional objects by depositing materials, usually in layers. Similar to standard 3D printing, AM allows for the creation of bespoke parts with complex geometries and little wastage. Ideal for rapid prototyping, the digital process means that design alterations can be done quickly and efficiently during the manufacturing process. Unlike with more traditional subtractive manufacturing techniques, the lack of material wastage provides cost reduction for high value parts, while AM has also been shown to reduce lead times.

In addition, parts that previously required assembly from multiple pieces can be fabricated as a single object which can provide improved strength and durability. AM can also be used to fabricate unique objects or replacement pieces where the original parts are no longer produced.

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SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping)

SLAM technology is a method used for autonomous vehicles that lets you build a map and localize your vehicle in that map at the same time. SLAM algorithms allow the vehicle to map out unknown environments. Engineers use the map information to carry out tasks such as path planning and obstacle avoidance.

SLAM has been the subject of technical research for many years. But with vast improvements in computer processing speed and the availability of low-cost sensors such as cameras and laser range finders, SLAM is now used for practical applications in a growing number of fields.

To understand why SLAM is important, let’s look at some of its benefits and application examples.

SLAM Examples

Consider a home robot vacuum. Without SLAM, it will just move randomly within a room and may not be able to clean the entire floor surface. In addition, this approach uses excessive power, so the battery will run out more quickly. On the other hand, robots with SLAM can use information such as the number of wheel revolutions and data from cameras and other imaging sensors to determine the amount of movement needed. This is called localization. The robot can also simultaneously use the camera and other sensors to create a map of the obstacles in its surroundings and avoid cleaning the same area twice. This is called mapping.

LiDAR SLAM

Light detection and ranging (lidar) is a method that primarily uses a laser sensor (or distance sensor).

Compared to cameras, ToF, and other sensors, lasers are significantly more precise, and are used for applications with high-speed moving vehicles such as self-driving cars and drones. The output values from laser sensors are generally 2D (x, y) or 3D (x, y, z) point cloud data. The laser sensor point cloud provides high-precision distance measurements, and works very effectively for map construction with SLAM. Generally, movement is estimated sequentially by matching the point clouds. The calculated movement (traveled distance) is used for localizing the vehicle. For lidar point cloud matching, registration algorithms such as iterative closest point (ICP) and normal distributions transform (NDT) algorithms are used. 2D or 3D point cloud maps can be represented as a grid map or voxel map.

On the other hand, point clouds are not as finely detailed as images in terms of density and do not always provide sufficient features for matching. For example, in places where there are few obstacles, it is difficult to align the point clouds and this may result in losing track of the vehicle location. In addition, point cloud matching generally requires high processing power, so it is necessary to optimize the processes to improve speed. Due to these challenges, localization for autonomous vehicles may involve fusing other measurement results such as wheel odometry, global navigation satellite system (GNSS), and IMU data. For applications such as warehouse robots, 2D lidar SLAM is commonly used, whereas SLAM using 3-D lidar point clouds can be used for UAVs and automated driving.

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What is immersive technology?

Immersive technology is a term used to describe technologies that create a sense of immersion or presence, which is the feeling of being fully present in a digital or virtual environment. Immersive technology can include VR, AR, and MR, as well as other technologies that provide an interactive or enhanced experience of reality. Immersive technology is already being used in a wide range of applications, including gaming, healthcare, defense, education, and industrial training.

Let’s take a closer look at each term within immersive technology, and explore the context behind them.

What is Virtual Reality?

Virtual reality (VR) is a technology that immerses users in a completely simulated environment, typically involving the use of a headset or other device that replaces the real world and allows users to interact with a digital environment. Virtual reality headsets have applications from entertainment to enterprise, and are continuing to revolutionize sectors like aerospace, automotive, education, and healthcare.

A recent example of leading VR technology is the Meta Quest Pro, released in October of 2022. Other examples include the HTC Vive XR Elite, which was launched earlier this year. As we mentioned in our post on How to Launch an XR Product, the VR space is advanced, competitive, and often comes with a high barrier to entry in terms of research and development.

What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that overlays digital content onto the real world, typically through a smartphone or other mobile device. Unlike VR, augmented reality usually involves a blend of real-world stimuli and digitally-generated spaces and objects. AR has been used for gaming, e-commerce, advertising, and other industrial applications that rely on a mix of reality and digital information (see: Augmented Reality in Architecture, Engineering and Construction).

One of the most well-known examples of an AR app is Pokémon Go, released in 2016 by Niantic. The game was one of the first mainstream examples of augmented reality in action, with players using their smartphone as a viewfinder to catch Pokemon in the real world.

More recently, the Magic Leap 2 (released September 2022) is an example of headworn AR hardware. Marketed as ‘the most immersive enterprise AR device’, the Magic Leap 2 is a headset that overlays digital content onto the real world, allowing users to interact with virtual objects in a real-world environment. As a case in point, Audi recently used Magic Leap 2 to create a dynamic, merged reality interface for drivers, known as the Audi activesphere.

What is Mixed Reality?

Mixed reality (MR) is a type of immersive experience that blends the physical and digital worlds together to create a new type of environment where digital objects can interact with real-world objects, and vice versa. MR allows users to see and interact with virtual objects as if they were part of the real world, creating a seamless blend of the physical and digital realms. Unlike VR, which replaces the real world with a digital space, and AR, which overlays digital objects onto the real world, MR combines elements of both to create a hybrid environment where physical and digital objects coexist.

Importantly, AR and MR are often mistaken for one another at a qualitative level, since they both involve the interaction of digital objects in the real world. However, the distinction lies in how meaningful the user’s environment is as a staging ground for the digital content being projected onto it. In AR, digital objects are simply overlaid onto the user’s surroundings, which remain largely unchanged physically. In MR, however, real space and objects are modified (with the use of green screens, for example) connecting them in a meaningful way to the digital content that is being generated by a headset.

By way of example, mixed reality can be clearly seen in action in Varjo’s Pilot Training, a high-end immersive training solution that can help pilots train in a mixed reality environment. Varjo’s solution combines specific objects in the user’s surrounding environment (in this case, physical flight simulator controllers) with virtually-generated content, to create a more immersive training program for users.

What is Extended Reality?

Extended reality (XR) is an umbrella term that encompasses all immersive technologies, including VR, AR, and MR. XR refers to any experience that extends beyond the physical world through the use of digital technologies. It includes virtual environments that simulate real-world environments, augmented environments that overlay digital content onto the physical world, and mixed environments that blend both virtual and real-world elements. XR technologies are used in a wide range of applications, from entertainment and gaming, to education, healthcare, and industrial training.

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