Sunday, July 17, 2011

When to use machine vision


I like to think I’ve learned a few things over my five decades, and one of the most important is the KISS principle - Keep It Simple, Stupid!

That’s a sentiment echoed by Kevin Ackerman of JMP Engineering in “Back to Basics: Selecting Sensors, machine vision” (Control Engineering, June 10th, 2011.) In an excellent article that gets straight to the point with no waffle, Kevin argues that the best solution is the simplest. This means using a sensor for presence absence tasks, rather than a PC-based vision system.

Kevin offers pros and cons for different machine vision scenarios, but in each case his basic premise is the same: don’t make the task any more complicated than it has to be.

Wise words indeed.

1 comment:

Spencer Luster said...

Here, here! Keep it simple indeed. Throughout my career I've always advised against machine vision unless it's obviously necessary. Proximity sensors, eddy current, ultrasonic, etc. often get the job done better and more cost-effectively.

Even within the machine vision realm I often advise people *against* using telecentric lenses unless they're really needed. This despite the fact that they're one of our major product lines.

Spencer