The choice of suitable optics plays an important role in the implementation of various machine vision systems. According to experts, updating the industrial infrastructure and expanding the range of applications taking into account the needs of the state and private business will lead to the growth of the market for machine vision systems and technologies. Therefore, now is the time to combine the efforts of international companies, government and research enterprises and institutions for the development of the machine vision industry.
WHAT PROBLEMS DOES MACHINE VISION SOLVE?
Machine vision is usually used for quality management, accounting for raw materials and materials and to control their movement, which ultimately contributes to reducing costs and increasing production volumes, says the company “ViTek”. It provides faster inspections and improved quality, while eliminating the human factor: visual inspection is being replaced by a more efficient machine vision system. Moreover, automatic control can be implemented at all stages of production – as you know, the earlier a defect is detected, the cheaper it is to fix it.
The machine vision system allows you to increase the number of controlled parameters, check very small parts, keep statistics of deviations from the norm to optimize the process, measure the geometry and volumes of objects of complex shapes, control marking or count products with specified characteristics. As a result, it is possible to identify defects at early stages, ensure guaranteed product quality, reduce downtime and optimize production based on statistical data. Quality can not only be controlled, but also controlled. The obtained numerical values and statistics simplify the diagnosis and elimination of problems, accounting and control, counting and sorting of products.
Participants of the seminars held within the framework of the forum received useful information about the technological advantages of machine vision for solving problems of control of quantity, quality, size, completeness, packaging, identification and labeling of products, as well as control of robots, machines and mechanisms.
COMPONENT BASE OF MACHINE VISION SYSTEMS
Machine vision systems vary in cost and complexity, and the computing module and camera can be combined or separated. Smart systems are endowed with “intelligence” – for example, they can count the number of products.
These systems use different types of processors: DSP, FPGA (or programmable logic controllers, PLC), x86 or ARM, as well as combined options. The latter include DSP + ARM (for example, TI KeyStone Multicore DSP), FPGA + ARM (XILINX Zynq), x86 + GPU (Intel, AMD), ARM + GPU (NVIDEA, Samsung, QUALCOMM, etc.). According to the sum of consumer properties, the specialists of “ViTek” give the highest rating to DSP processors, as well as ARM in combination with GPU graphics processors. FPGA cameras are considered an attractive image preprocessing solution at Baumer Optronic. FPGA technology allows such cameras to be programmed for a variety of applications.
Possible applications of this product include control of technical devices using gestures, restoration of the trajectory of an athlete’s movement, reconstruction of objects shot from different angles, obstacle detection, counting passengers in transport and visitors in designated areas, providing three-dimensional vision of robots and their spatial orientation, building a trajectory of movement.
OPTICS – KEY TO SUCCESS
For example, a telecentric lens with a collimated illuminator can be used on high-speed production lines. It provides a clear image around the edges of the object, making it easy to make accurate measurements and identify defects. A catadioptric lens provides a complete (3600) image of small objects. It can be easily integrated into almost any system, used for color control, checking the accuracy of plastic bottle threads, sealing vials, and more.
Special optics are also used in the production of thin and long objects such as medical syringes. Existing systems provide the ability to inspect the external and internal surfaces of an object in one high-resolution image. In some applications, macro lenses replace microscopes, allowing objects to be measured with micron precision. Several vision cameras are often used in one system.
