See you in Boston?

Boston, Massachusetts that is, on May 25 – 27 for The Vision Show. This is, or was, the premier place to go to learn about machine vision but in recent years I think it’s lost its luster. Currently I count 64 companies on the list of exhibitors, chiefly lighting and lens vendors, and while I don’t have the numbers, it’s my impression that this is down on previous years.

The problem with The Vision Show, at least in my humble opinion, is that it’s become inward looking. It’s a show for machine vision insiders, not users. Yes, they still run some good conference sessions, though no word on the actual agenda for this year, but the product emphasis is on components rather than solutions.

From a users perspective, this is a problem. For an engineer with an inspection or process control problem to solve, the merits of a camera from Baumer over AVT, or even CameraLink over FireWire, just aren’t that important: all the guy wants to know is, will it solve his problem.

Unfortunately, “solutions” is not what this show is about, which is why I’m afraid you will not be seeing me at the Hynes Convention Center this year.