Spherical Scanning Point Coordinates for Robot Arms

Scan multiple surfaces around a spherical object

Imagine you need to scan (either visually or acoustically) surfaces around a spherical object. This requires retrieving the coordinates for the points on the spherical surfaces. The number of points is determined by the resolution of the polar and azimuthal angles (delta phi and delta theta). You may also need to scan multiple surfaces which is especially useful for acoustic applications. A key requirement is that the sensors (laser, microphone, etc.) always be normal to the surface of the scanning object, which is more challenging than flat surfaces. This code finds the coordinate of the points and angle at which the robot arm would have to point the sensor in order to maintain the normal-to-surface requirement.