Review of reverse engineering systems – current state of the art

TLDR

Reverse engineering is widely used in industry when digital or geometric models of existing objects are unavailable. The paper outlines RE system components, manufacturing needs, emerging trends in speed, accuracy, and automation, and discusses tolerance issues in integrating RE with 3D printing. It describes contact and non‑contact scanning techniques and explores interfaces between RE and other manufacturing processes, particularly 3D printing.

Abstract

Reverse engineering (RE) has been widely applied in many segments of industry when digital or geometric models of existing physical objects are unavailable. This paper details components of RE systems and describes the needs for RE in manufacturing industries. Commonly used contact and non-contact scanning techniques are described. Possible interfaces with other manufacturing processes, especially 3D printing (3DP), are discussed. This paper also describes new trends in the field that include increased speed, accuracy, and level of automation in the future. Finally, a discussion on two major tolerance issues in terms of integrating RE and 3DP are presented.