Faro Focus S further development

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Bartoloman
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Faro Focus S further development

Post by Bartoloman »

Hello everyone,

We were wondering what's Faro doing in the development department ? As an owner of Faro Focus S scanners I don't see any further development anymore. There is an accessory bay but no accessories are available. We were hoping for an additional camera (no Istar solution) which could give us high-end immagerie also. It would also be nice if the scanning time could be reduced drastically. When we look at other companies there we can see some further development. Leica for instance developed the RTC360 which has some nice features and a scan time around 2min.

What do you think about this statement/question ?

Kind regards,

Bart
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Re: Faro Focus S further development

Post by bdawood »

I would like to see an accurate GNSS module
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Re: Faro Focus S further development

Post by Slewis33 »

The scan times aren't that bad but absolutely an external camera solution would be nice.
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Re: Faro Focus S further development

Post by jedfrechette »

My local Faro rep happened to be visiting yesterday and I asked the exact same question about accessories. The answer I got was that Faro wants the S series to have a life of at least another 5 years and they plan to do that by developing accessories. I guess time will tell if that pans out.
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Re: Faro Focus S further development

Post by bdawood »

I think it will live more than 5 years, I still have my s120
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Re: Faro Focus S further development

Post by jcoco3 »

As I remember it, I thought the idea behind the accessory bays were to enable crafty users to create their own accessories. In practice I really have no idea how difficult that might be due to my ignorance of whatever sdk might be available. If Faro is working on some accessories that would be neat, but I don't think we should wait around if we have the ability to do it ourselves.

Has anyone heard any rumors of an sdk or control software for accessing and using the contacts in the top of the accessory bays? If so I know I could cobble together at a minimum a camera shutter cable and bracket to fit most compact cameras. An led light would be an easy second, but I would really like to see an inexpensive thermal camera up there in time.
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Re: Faro Focus S further development

Post by Brett »

They will not post details about developments as anyone thinking of purchasing a current model scanner may postpone the purchase until the new model comes out.

That being said at the moment they would be wise to start dropping hints that they will have something to match the RTC360 pretty soon as I've spoken to a few people that are looking at getting it.
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Re: Faro Focus S further development

Post by TommyMaddox »

https://knowledge.faro.com/Hardware/Las ... r_Scanners

Above is a link to download the CAD model for the connector interfaces.

https://knowledge.faro.com/Hardware/Las ... he_Focus_S

Above is a link to the automation manual for the FARO FOCUS S scanner. Note that the black accessory bay port is a USB port. The Red accessory bay port is a CAN-Bus port. The pin-out diagrams for both ports are in this manual, along with a sample wiring diagram. It appears both ports have a 14.4-19V pin and ground for powering accessories.

There is lots of fun stuff in the Automation Interface Manual, but the material relevant to the accessory bay ports starts on page 49.

https://knowledge.faro.com/Hardware/Las ... er_Scanner

Above is information about the FOCUS S LS SDK and API. The one you need to control the scanner is the SDK-DEV or the SCENE Stand-alone API. You will need to contact your FARO Rep or Customer Support and sign an NDA and such. If you are not a programmer, or don't have access to a programming team, this probably will not be of much use to you.
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Re: Faro Focus S further development

Post by jcoco3 »

Doing good things Tommy...good things :)

Edit: I just skimmed through the documentation, and first off it is good to at least see a 3d model of the new automation adapter. Second, my hunch was correct in that from a programming perspective I would still be too ignorant to utilize the accessory bays. I could certainly fabricate a mounting system and even a connector to fit the top ports tapping into both power and the usb pins, but I lack the knowledge necessary to program controls for whatever I might add to the top :( If somebody else out there can program that part, but cannot fabricate a mount and connector give me a shout. At a minimum we could start with something simple like a remote controlled light, or a camera shutter control.

I wish I had learned a bit of programming in school, but I am so old they still taught typing in high school! I have recently learned some basic scripting for servo controls, but that is not enough for this application.
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Re: Faro Focus S further development

Post by TommyMaddox »

jcoco3 wrote: Fri Aug 10, 2018 3:36 pm Doing good things Tommy...good things :)

Edit: I just skimmed through the documentation, and first off it is good to at least see a 3d model of the new automation adapter. Second, my hunch was correct in that from a programming perspective I would still be too ignorant to utilize the accessory bays. I could certainly fabricate a mounting system and even a connector to fit the top ports tapping into both power and the usb pins, but I lack the knowledge necessary to program controls for whatever I might add to the top :( If somebody else out there can program that part, but cannot fabricate a mount and connector give me a shout. At a minimum we could start with something simple like a remote controlled light, or a camera shutter control.

I wish I had learned a bit of programming in school, but I am so old they still taught typing in high school! I have recently learned some basic scripting for servo controls, but that is not enough for this application.
Always glad to be of assistance Jonathan. All of these materials and so much more are on our awesome but often grossly underutilized Knowledge Base.

https://knowledge.faro.com/
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