Smart cameras are old-school?

I’ve made the argument that PC-based machine vision can be less expensive smart cameras. That’s especially true when resolutions go up and more than one camera is needed. I know some of you agree, but I’ve never heard it enunciated quite so clearly as Datalogic’s Gary Koken does in “Changing Asian Economics Sew Seeds for Automation Growth in Textile Industry” (Vision Online, July 1^st, 2013.)

The top half of the article you can skip since it’s all about the Chinese textile industry, but part way down you’ll come to “PCs Dominate Asian Machine Vision” and that’s where you should start reading.

This is where Koken explains the cost issue. I’ve no argument with his numbers, (well perhaps his 2Mp camera prices are a little steep,) but what I don’t see is any data to support that subheading.

I think the smart camera versus PC solution is a whole lot more complex than just the purchase price. There’s speed of implementation, training, support, usability, standardization, upgrade pathways and more to consider. In fact there’s so much to take into account I see a whole series of blog posts on the subject…