Machine Vision

In a world economy seeking labor equilibrium, the USA has been hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs as plants are relocated. This job loss is not limited to the production line worker, but extends to the highest levels of management. Companies that remain in the USA will have to find ways to remain competitive with third world labor rates. To that end, many corporations have sought to seek gains in purchasing efficiencies, but have squeezed out just about all of the gains available. The USA is on the cusp of an Automation Revolution, in which machine vision will play an ever-increasing role, and in which you MUST participate.

What is "machine vision" and how can it help retain jobs at your facility? Machine vision is simply an electronic alternative to the human eye/brain sensory combination. In some cases, this human combination can not be equaled with technology, but in others, machine vision is superior. It is ideal for many inspection applications, as well as for measurement, tracking, and coordination of robot motion. If a process can define a set of rules, AND existing optical technology can "see" the characteristics, machine vision offers a repeatable, high-speed solution.

Consider inspecting a steel part for the presence or absence of threaded holes, or studs. The human glances at the part, and immediately perceives presence or absence. But, can he perform 100% inspection at high speeds? Can he simultaneously measure radii, or diameters, or circumferences, or distances to other features, or tolerances down to the micron level? Can he relay this data via ethernet to a QC office, where decisions can then be made to perform maintenance on the production machinery to maintain a level of quality that your customers are demanding? How about inspection of food for proper color - or checking placement of colored wires or fuse blocks in the proper sequence? Since this is often a subjective or tedious analysis, quality can vary depending upon the inspector present, and even the emotional or physical "condition" of the inspector.

An ever growing application for machine vision is the control of robots. In the past, to use robots, parts had to be presented in the proper orientation, and in a well defined position. While this is still preferred, it can not always be accomplished. Machine vision can scan parts coming down a conveyor, find objects by matching to a template in memory, determine orientation of the part, and direct the robot to the correct coordinates with the proper orientation of the grippers to grasp and manipulate the part - all in milleseconds!

In the past, machine vision was a high-risk, high-cost endeavor that maybe acheived a satisfactory ROI. However, with today's technology, many applications can be accomplished with a single CMOS or CCD camera, lens and light for under $5,000. That's an ROI that can be justified! In fact, we will prove the feasibility, and show your ROI before an order is ever placed.

Again, not every application is feasible, but if you think that you may have an application, or would like to find out, click on the "Contact Us" link or button to the left. We will email you the list of information that will be required for our site survey, and set a date for that survey.