Machine Vision

Every week we will offer up a taste of what is available to Industry Snapshot subscribers by providing a short summation of the industry and the companies that appear in the most curent issue. This week, IS takes a look at machine vision companies.

Electro Scientific Industries, Inc.

MVSI, Inc.

Perceptron, Inc.

PPT Vision, Inc.

Robotic Vision Systems, Inc.

Historically there have been two very distinct and antagonistic currents in the literature of popular futurists. The "Brave New World" variety emphasizes the de-humanizing aspects of technology and the subsequent automation that displaces workers and engenders Marx-like alienation. This view contrasts with that of the visionaries who see a world where robots and replicas of humans perform tasks of mind-numbing routine and hazard, liberating their human counterparts.

The development of artificial sensory perception -- connecting a machine with its environment -- has proven to be a grand step in the evolution of artificial systems. Smoke detectors "smell," voice recognition and alarm activation systems "hear," blood separation equipment "tastes," robot arms "feel," and now machine vision systems "see."

It would seem that the previously articulated positions, both of the apocalyptic and non-doomsday variety, have been realized simultaneously. Ultimately you still might lose your job to a robot, but the first commercial applications of machine vision technology involve taking over jobs that humans definitely won't miss.

Machine Vision

Robots and automated inspection systems entered the manufacturing sector in the early eighties, initially only taking on repetitive and predictable tasks. If a part on an assembly line was out of place or if any two parameters in a process were misaligned, that automated manufacturing process would break down. The advent of practical, real time machine vision in the late eighties enabled robots to precisely measure where the next part they had to contact was located, adjusting their control inputs accordingly. In addition, machine vision systems were employed to read alphanumeric characters, detect flaws, and measure dimensions with a speed and accuracy unmatched by random sampling and human vision inspection.

At its most fundamental, a machine vision system is a combination of cameras, lighting, and proprietary computer hardware and software, working together to capture and analyze images of moving parts to determine if the parts match a defined standard. The principal applications of machine vision technology have been implemented in the manufacturing arena where the quest for productivity improvements constitutes the largest portion of the typical capital spending dollar. The industries that have been quick to capitalize on machine vision technology include: the semiconductor and electronics industries, the automotive industry, the aerospace and metal fabrication industries, the pharmaceutical and specialty tool industries, and the wood products industry. Each industry has its own unique dynamic and rationale for utilizing machine vision systems.

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