The NI presence at the 2009 Vision & Robots show was very much smaller than the extravaganza they’ve put on in previous years, yet they managed to pack a lot of machine vision into a small space. I counted 4 cameras in a single small demo: two of their smart cameras, a FireWire camera hooked up to the venerable CVS, and most interestingly, a line scan camera plugged in to the new “Embedded Vision System,” the EVS.
The EVS is perhaps best described as the CVS all grown up. Physically, it’s a little bigger, although much of the increased bulk is heatsink, necessitated by the fanless design. Inside there’s an Intel 1.66GHz dual core processor, but rather than Windows it runs LabVIEW RT. Sporting every connection interface imaginable (except CameraLink,) this is a versatile little box with aspirations to be the heart of a real industrial machine vision system. (If you’re interesting a watching a webcast intro to the product, use this link.)
The big downside of the package is price. The EVS itself is $4,500, on top of which you need the LabVIEW RT vision development bundle (at least, I think you do. NI are as confusing as ever about software.)
So who’s going to buy this product? I think its appeal is to the hardcore LabVIEW developer (or Alliance member,) who needs to implement a vision system. I really can’t see it winning converts from users of other machine vision products because of the price and the learning curve.
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Thanks for the feedback on the EVS. To clarify a couple of points: the $4499 price includes run-time (deployment) licenses for both Vision Builder for Automated Inspection (configuration-based software) and LabVIEW Vision Development Module. So customer needs only to add camera price(s) to compare vs. competitors for systems 2 - N. Initial system purchase will require either Vision Builder for Automated Inspection ($1899) or a LabVIEW development system that includes the LabVIEW Real-Time and Vision Development Modules.
My second comment has to do with likely users of the product. For single-camera systems, EVS solutions compare favorably with competitive premium smart cameras at similar price points. For multi-camera systems, EVS systems should enjoy a significant cost advantage. Also, customers that wish to use LabVIEW for development will require some training (the learning curve you mentioned) but Vision Builder for Automated Inspection provides an easy-to use configuration based environment that will be the software of choice for most users.
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