Large-scale particle physics detectors often contain millions of repeated components, making precise and efficient quality control essential. We have developed a semiautomatic system for dimensional screening of 1 cm3 plastic scintillator cubes for their potential use in future neutrino detectors. The system employs a motorized rotating stage, six high-resolution cameras, and image analysis software to measure cube size, surface protrusions, and the positions of holes for wavelength-shifting fibers used in optical readout. Based on these measurements, each cube is automatically classified as either acceptable or defective. We constructed and validated a prototype system, achieving a measurement precision of 10 μm and over 80% consistency with manual screening. To enable classification of cubes into 48 groups based on hole positions while preserving their orientation, we introduced a 6-axis robotic arm. The completed system achieved a rejection rate of 3.1%. Our approach contributes to scalable, precise, and efficient quality control for future large-scale particle physics detectors.
@article{arxiv.2603.26732,
title = {Semiautomatic dimensional screening of plastic scintillator cubes using image analysis and robotics},
author = {Tatsuya Kikawa and Mao Tani and Atsuko K. Ichikawa and Tsunayuki Matsubara and Tsuyoshi Nakaya and Tomohisa Ogawa},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.26732},
year = {2026}
}