3D sensor

3D is the new frontier in machine vision right now, (yes I know it’s been around a long time but it’s only starting to get out into the real world,) and the leading technology is laser triangulation.

Until recently I thought the only way to do this was to set up a camera and laser, trusting I’d get the angle and resolution I wanted. Now though there are some products that do this for me. In other words, camera and laser are integrated into one package with a preset working distance.

IVC, subsequently acquired by SICK were one of the first companies to do this, followed by LMI with their Gocator, and now a German company, SmartRay, has a similar product.

The SmartRay offering of greatest interest to me is the 700. It’s really small and light, which means I can envisage mounting on the end of an arm and moving it over a surface to be inspected. Sadly, there’s not much detailed info about connectivity on the SmartRay website – it would be great if it used USB – but I guess I’ll have to wait for the sales rep to come calling.

Interesting product, all the same.