tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19249488060847936552024-03-13T13:07:38.881-04:00Machine Vision 4 UsersConversation directed to those who work with machine vision systems, especially in industrial environments. Topics include new products, applications, training and maintenance, and anything else that catches my eye.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1400125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-17957261231044916242015-06-18T19:08:00.002-04:002015-06-18T19:08:33.475-04:00Why GenICam 3.0 deserves your attention
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some engineers love standards. They get
all excited about reading them, and positively orgasmic when offered
the chance to be on a standards committee.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me, I’m not so interested. I get that
standards are important, and I understand that my work is much easier
as a result of machine vision standards like GenICam, but I can’t
get excited about them. However, a press release from the European
Machine Vision Association (EMVA) regarding the new GenICam 3.0 was
quite interesting. Subtitled, “<u><a href="http://www.emva.org/cms/index.php?idcat=31&idart=1734"><span style="color: blue;">3D
machine vision made easy</span></a></u>,” this explains how EMVA
has standardized interfaces for 3D cameras in the same way as 2D
cameras have been standardized for some years.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is good news. As vision engineers
have been waking up to the possibilities of 3D – and I confess to
being a big fan – we need the cameras to be as close to
‘plug-and-play’ as possible.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also in the new release, some enhanced
point-cloud capabilities. Learn more by reading the press release.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-55825738352078641232015-06-16T22:43:00.002-04:002015-06-16T22:43:23.747-04:00Job for a rule-loving engineer?
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As an engineer you don't have much of a
career path, unless you want to go into management. (I advise against
it.) So as a way of recognizing professional seniority and competence
the role of Principal Engineer was created.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this context, “Principal”
implies head or most senior. Every so often though, I see jobs
advertised for “<u><a href="https://www.dice.com/jobs/detail/Sr-Principle-Software-Engineer-Kelly-IT-Livermore-CA-94551/10114756a/058575?icid=sr4-1p&q="><span style="color: blue;">Principle
Engineer</span></a></u>”. “Principle” has an entirely different
meaning. A principle is a rule or fundamental doctrine. So I assume a
Principle Engineer creates rules. I imagine they could be machine
vision rules, in which case he or she would be a Machine Vision
Principle Engineer, but this doesn't sound like the kind of work a
senior or highly experienced machine vision specialist would be
engaged in.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What's the takeaway? If you should be
writing a job description for a highly experienced machine vision
specialist, title it “Principal Engineer” and I might apply. I am
not however interested in being a “Principle Engineer.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-339600759892884362015-06-14T22:20:00.000-04:002015-06-14T22:20:09.151-04:00Machine vision education
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every so often a reader finds my blog
while trying to teach themselves about machine vision. Then I get a
very nice email, (I love getting emails – it shows you actually
read my rambling thoughts,) asking where they can find good
educational material.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s difficult. There are textbooks,
like Nello Zeuch’s “<u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Applying-Expanded-Manufacturing-Hardcover/dp/B00SB5XQ1G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1432929023&sr=8-2&keywords=nello+zeuch"><span style="color: blue;">Understanding
and Applying Machine Vision</span></a></u>,” but they go out of
date quickly. (Yes, I know the Laws of Physics are pretty much
immutable, but vision technology evolves constantly.) The alternative
is online material.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, you can’t trust everything
you find on the web, but I have to think MIT Open Courseware is
pretty high quality. So you might want to take their “<u><a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-801-machine-vision-fall-2004/"><span style="color: blue;">Machine
Vision</span></a></u>” class. This dates from 2004, so it’s not
exactly bang up to date, and looking at the syllabus, it does seem to
assume some prior knowledge of the subject.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven’t taken the class myself,
yet. If I can break away from blogging I might give it a go. In the
meantime, if any of you readers out there want to send me a review
I’ll be happy to share your thoughts with the vision world.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-77092187753922521472015-06-09T22:18:00.003-04:002015-06-09T22:18:31.481-04:00Sometimes you just have to vent<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On occasion developing a machine vision
application can be frustrating. Scope creep is one issue, when the
customer throws a new defect type at you during the final run-off and
says, “If it can’t find this I’m not paying for it.” Then
there are the more technical problems, like dealing with
batch-to-batch shade variation, or the irritating niggles of
configuring IP addresses for GigE cameras. (I’m going out on a limb
here and hoping that you deal with all this too.) So every now and
then I feel the need to vent.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What I didn’t realize though is that
venting can improve the way your hardware performs.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I bet you’re surprised by that too
but it must be true. Why else would Gore, (yes, the people who make
<span lang="en">GORE TEX® fabrics,</span> run a webcast called,
“Enhancing Sensor Reliability Through Venting”?
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I learned about this from an email. I
couldn’t find anything on their website
(<u><a href="http://www.gore.com/en_xx/products/venting/index.html"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.gore.com/en_xx/products/venting/index.html</span></a></u>)
although I’m sure Google will find it. If you want to know how
venting helps, that is.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-50729481520267945042015-06-04T18:55:00.001-04:002015-06-04T18:55:30.261-04:00Camera interface standards
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's m</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">y impression that the machine
vision industry has pretty much standardized on one interface. It’s
GigE for area or matrix cameras, leaving USB3 to the
scientific/medical community and falling back on CameraLink for
linescan applications. (Though I notice Dalsa now has a family of
<u><a href="https://www.teledynedalsa.com/imaging/products/cameras/line-scan/linea/"><span style="color: blue;">GigE
linescan cameras</span></a></u>.) However, I know other industries
like other formats.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, when I saw a post on the excellent
Adimec blog asking, “<u><a href="http://info.adimec.com/blogposts/which-digital-video-interface-is-best-for-global-security-systems"><span style="color: blue;">Which
digital video interface is best for global security systems?</span></a></u>”
I didn’t expect to learn much. But there were a couple of
interesting snippets.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, regarding GigE, “<span lang="en">Processing
required to pack and unpack video generates additional heat and
uncertain latency…” Now that is news to me. Yes I have noticed a
couple of my favorite GigE cameras seem to run very hot, but I hadn’t
compared them with USB3 equivalents. Now I think I will.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second, someone seems to have
a bit of a downer on USB3:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Cons</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Large connector and
interface driver</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<li><div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maximum throughput
unpredictable (chipset, PC motherboard and driver dependent)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<li><div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sustainable speed is
much lower than theoretical limit</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<li><div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unreliable operation
with longer cables (>3 m)”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></li>
</li>
</li>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Interesting points. There’s been so
much hype over USB3 that the downsides seem to have been forgotten.
Good to see Adimex removing the rose-tinted specs.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is why it’s important to keep
reading the machine vision blogs. You never know quite what you’ll
learn. (And kudos to Adimec for providing consistently good content.)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-39542075569178540222015-05-31T13:09:00.000-04:002015-05-31T13:09:37.838-04:00Should we hold a caption contest?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The big Automate show has come and
gone, but it lives on forever online. As you may know, Vision Systems
Design magazine presented awards for special achievement in the
machine vision realm at the show. What you may not know is that there
is a slideshow of these presentations on the <u><a href="http://www.vision-systems.com/"><span style="color: blue;">www.vision-systems.com</span></a></u>
website.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now I’m not a talented photographer,
so I shouldn’t criticize, but I won’t let that hold me back. And
perhaps the photographer was elbowed out of the prime position, and
perhaps he/she had some serious lag between pressing the button and
the image being acquired, but seriously, these are some amateur
photos.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the other hand, some are really
rather funny. Like the one of Andy Wilson pushing his glasses back up
his nose. (Now you want to look, so here’s the link:
<u><a href="http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2015/03/slideshow-2015-innovators-awards-honoree-reception/gallery.html%5C"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2015/03/slideshow-2015-innovators-awards-honoree-reception/gallery.html\</span></a></u>)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I think we should have a caption
contest. Let’s see who can come up with the most amusing speech
bubbles. Send me an edited/marked up screen shot and I just may
publish the one that’s most amusing (after getting permission from
Andy of course!)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And sincere congratulations to those
award recipients. Well done! I shall be looking closely at your
products and services in the weeks ahead.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-11241408478553477572015-05-26T22:35:00.000-04:002015-05-26T22:35:02.112-04:00When you’re backlighting cylindrical parts
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I see backlighting used all the time in
machine vision training classes and at trade shows, typically for
gauging or locating shapes. Look closely though and you’ll see the
targets are flat objects – boxes, stamped parts – those kinds of
things. Never machined steel shafts.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s a good reason for that.
Unless you’re using a collimated backlight you won’t get a true
image. That’s because the backlight emits light over 180 degrees,
and some of those rays strike the target shaft and reflect in to the
camera, as shown in this rather crude sketch.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-za_wcyHzuBM/VWUtLNpJBXI/AAAAAAAAAxU/BLQ-Qj0Kj70/s1600/backlight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-za_wcyHzuBM/VWUtLNpJBXI/AAAAAAAAAxU/BLQ-Qj0Kj70/s1600/backlight.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This means you will see bright pixels
in what should be dark areas of the image, and those can play havoc
with your vision tools.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Interestingly, I observed this in a
recent application note from National Instruments. “<u><a href="http://sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-16586"><span style="color: blue;">Developing
a High-Speed, High-Accuracy Measuring System for Automotive Screw
Inspection</span></a></u>” includes some screenshots from the
system. If you look closely at image 3 in the gallery you’ll see
what I mean.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now there are ways around this. The
best is to use collimated light (where all the rays travel in the
same direction,) but if you can’t do that use the smallest
backlight possible and position it as far behind the target as
possible. That way you’ll cut down on those tangential rays coming
off the part and into the camera.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no charge for this snippet of
advice. All I ask is that you keep coming back. If you’d like to
link to this page, even better.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-37973341930576822112015-05-23T11:00:00.002-04:002015-05-23T11:00:21.521-04:00New software naming convention?
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don’t think anyone would argue that
Cognex’s PatMax tool is both powerful and capable. When you need to
locate a part in an image and your regular fixturing isn’t reliable
or becomes too complex PatMax will probably do it.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But, (there’s always a “but” in
this blog,) it is computationally intense. Matching contours takes a
lot of digital horsepower, which results in extended processing time,
especially when running PatMax on a high-res InSight smart camera. So
I sat up and paid attention when I spotted a recent Cognex press
release.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<u><a href="http://www.cognex.com/CognexInfo/PressReleases/PressRelease.aspx?id=15840&langtype=1033"><span style="color: blue;">New
Cognex Feature Location Technology Offers Unmatched Performance and
Speed</span></a></u>” (May 5<span style="font-size: small;"><sup>th</sup>, 2015) announces “PatMax
RedLine™, a feature-location technology that reinvents the
industry-leading PatMax® pattern-matching tool by maximizing speed
and performance.” What this does, or so Cognex claim, is speed up
the way PatMax runs on a 5Mp InSight.
</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m sure that’s a good thing, and I
suspect, although it’s not mentioned in the release, that Cognex
charge a premium for its use. However, it does beg two questions:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<ol><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why didn’t my local Cognex sales
rep let me know this was coming?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">‘Redline’ sounds like a subway
system, (Boston? San Francisco?) in which case I wonder if we should
brace ourselves for ‘District’, “Piccadilly’, and
‘Bakerloo’?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></li>
</li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well if Google can use weird naming
conventions for Android releases, what’s stopping Cognex from doing
the same?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-18936797816400095482015-05-09T14:04:00.003-04:002015-05-09T14:04:58.875-04:00Who’s got RealSense?
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Raise your hands please if you’ve
played with this new Intel camera technology.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like a Kinect on steroids, the
<u><a href="https://software.intel.com/en-us/RealSense/F200Camera"><span style="color: blue;">RealSense</span></a></u>
promises to make 3D imaging easy. Apparently it came out at the
beginning of the year, but between doing my day job and dealing with
illness it passed me by. It was only Vision Systems Design’s
interview with <u><a href="http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2015/05/q-a-machine-vision-industry-trends-3d-imaging-and-emva1288-testing.html"><span style="color: blue;">Arnaud
Darmont</span></a></u> that alerted me to the fact that this is
something new.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I may have several applications, but
I’d like to learn more about how it works. I can’t find any
details on the Intel website, although a post on the Image Sensors
World blog, “<u><a href="http://image-sensors-world.blogspot.com/2015/01/intel-releases-more-details-on-its-f200.html"><span style="color: blue;">Intel
Releases More Details on its F200 RealSense Camera</span></a></u>”
suggested it’s an IR light pattern projection system.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, commenters in a discussion
forum argued that it’s actually a Time-of-Flight system. I’m not
sure about that, but I can’t find anything definitive. So, can
anyone share links to definitive info about how the RealSense F200
camera works?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-7009727042568356672015-04-24T15:40:00.004-04:002015-04-24T15:40:22.796-04:00The Machine Vision Business Must be Good
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some companies are clearly so busy they
don’t want to sell me anything. Let me explain.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I recently needed a fiber-optic light
guide. (Yes, I still use that technology on occasion.) So I went to
the websites of two companies I know who sell that kind of thing.
Both showed what I wanted but neither mentioned the price. So I used
the ‘Contact Us’ function to submit an inquiry.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One website let me send an email. I got
a reply back an hour or so later. The other website popped up an
inquiry form. I dutifully filled it in and clicked to submit. I
received an automated reply immediately. That seemed encouraging, but
five days later I’m still waiting for the pricing info I requested.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guess which company got my business?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know business is good, because the
AIA keeps telling me that sales are growing. But if you want to grow,
might I suggest you reply to each and every enquiry you receive? You
never know where it will lead.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-5486783002162270762015-04-16T07:16:00.001-04:002015-04-16T07:16:05.208-04:00Vision network tip
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you don’t already have your smart
cameras on a separate network, you may be doing it soon. With growing
demand for all images to be saved, plus track-and-trace data, the
volume of vision data being sent around many plants is expanding
beyond the ability of the regular IT network to handle.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One tool to help might be the “managed
switch.” I didn’t know anything about these, but a Hank Hogan
article in Control Design (Jan 15, 2015,) provided some illumination.
If you’re getting beat up over hogging all the bandwidth, take a
look at “<u><a href="http://www.controldesign.com/articles/2015/how-valuable-is-your-network/"><span style="color: blue;">How
Valuable is Your Network</span></a></u>.” It might help soothe the
tension with your IT people.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-65514972497901027602015-04-11T12:13:00.002-04:002015-04-11T12:13:51.463-04:00Summarizing your 3D options
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of my takeaways from Automate was
that 3D is no longer a novelty, at least not as regards robot
guidance. Pretty much every robot integrator with a Fanuc on their
stand also had 3D system in place. These all used the same DLP
approach where a series of lines are projected in quick succession
onto the target surface.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Andy Wilson summarizes this, and all
the other options, in “<u><a href="http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/print/volume-19/issue-11/features/choosing-a-3d-vision-system-for-automated-robotics-applications.html?cmpid=EnlVSDApril62015"><span style="color: blue;">Choosing
a 3D vision system for automated robotics applications</span></a></u>”
which was published on the Vision Systems Design website back in
December 2014. It’s a very comprehensive and I don’t think he
omits a single camera-based method. (He doesn’t mention LIDAR or
time-of-flight methods.)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you have any interest in robot
guidance I’d encourage you to read his article. Even if you’re
more interested in part inspection, as I am, it’s an excellent
primer. Ever helpful, Andy includes links to the many camera and
illumination companies with something to offer the 3D imaging world.
It’s something you might want to bookmark.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-63076108913683388692015-04-08T22:24:00.003-04:002015-04-08T22:24:43.931-04:00Trade Show Etiquette
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Companies spend a lot of money on their
trade show displays. I wonder why they don’t invest a little in
teaching their staff how to behave.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Slouching on a chair in the corner,
checking email or texts on phones, and even chewing gum. I think I
saw it all as I prowled the aisles at Automate, and it was not a
pretty sight. The worst offender though was a robot company who’d
crammed their stand with white-shirted salesmen. I got the impression
they hadn’t met up in some time because all the while I was on
there they were huddled in groups talking to each other. I do have a
photo, if anyone’s interested.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So here’s my proposal: before the
next big show, ask me to educate your sales ‘professionals’ in
how to behave professionally at a trade show. It might do wonders for
the return on show investment!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-27015507071348045452015-04-04T18:26:00.004-04:002015-04-04T18:26:45.998-04:00Halcon for dummies?
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Power, or so we are told, is an
aphrodisiac. If so, that would explain why many machine vision
professionals are so drawn to <u><a href="http://www.halcon.com/"><span style="color: blue;">Halcon</span></a></u>.
While some, (mostly those in Natick,) will argue VisionPro is at
least comparable, there’s no dispute that Halcon is one of the most
powerful vision tool libraries.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s also rather hard to use. It
needs C programming skills combined with a deep understanding of
machine vision algorithms, and that puts it out of reach for many of
us. And then, late in 2014 <u><a href="http://www.mvtec.com/en/"><span style="color: blue;">MVTec</span></a></u>
started promoting a product called Merlic.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While it’s a simplification to call
it ‘programming-free Halcon’ it is built on a subset of the
underlying tools. That should, in principle anyway, make it rather
attractive for those of us not so skilled in advanced coding, which
is why I was eager to take a look.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think pretty much everyone treated to
a preview came to the same conclusion: like a High School football
player, it had potential, but really needed development.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well it seems MVTec listened to the
feedback and are making changes. The <u><a href="http://www.mvtec.com/news-press/article/detail/mvtec-announces-date-for-merlic-release/"><span style="color: blue;">official
launch</span></a></u> is now planned for June 1<span style="font-size: small;"><sup>st</sup> 2015 (so
they still have time to test and implement bug-fixes.) There’s no
word on pricing, but I figure if I can save $1,500 a month between
now and then I should have enough in my piggybank to buy a copy.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is however one claim in the press
release that grates. “users will be able to create machine vision
solutions quickly without any knowledge of imaging technology…”.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m sorry but I find that hard to
believe. Surely any user needs to know how to get an image. Isn’t
that one of the most basic skills?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But that gripe aside (and I wouldn’t
be me if I didn’t gripe,) Merlic promises to be one of the most
interesting new products of 2015. Join me in taking a look when it
goes on sale.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-18006429296149696012015-03-26T18:14:00.005-04:002015-03-26T18:17:01.512-04:00Observations from the Automate Show<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">It looked like a successful show. The aisles were crowded, many
times I had to wait in line to speak to a salesperson (and once I ended up
chasing one around a stand. So why did people I spoke with seem despondent?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Here are a few thoughts.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">This used to be a Vision show. The AIA still runs a ‘conference’,
(though now it’s mostly just CVP training classes,) but it’s become very much
an automation hardware show. That means lots of robots, grippers, guarding and
so on and less machine vision, at least as a percentage of the stands filling
the hall.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Most of the machine vision lighting guys were there, as were
a good few camera makers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AVT, JAI, and Baumer
all caught my eye. Optics was covered by Edmunds and Opto-Engineering, and it
was good to see a Midwest Optical Filters presence, (filters are still so
under-appreciated!).</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Keyence had a big stand with attractive ladies eager to scan
every badge, (I assume they’re just trying to grow their list of people to
pester,) and SICK had a good-sized display. National Instruments showed up but I
missed Matrox entirely. I did however stumble across the MVTec guys and Kithara
(a somewhat new name in vision software.) Cognex were absent of course – it seems
it’s beneath them to attend these shows - and I have a feeling Microscan were
lurking somewhere, maybe close to Matrox.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">So what really caught my eye?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Well there were lots of robots, lot’s and lots of ‘em,
mostly Fanucs. And many had Fanuc’s 3D vision incorporated, a light-stripe
projector with two cameras. It seemed to work pretty well, although there was
one bin-picking application that I saw struggling.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">In fact it was about the only bin-picking application, a
notable difference from two years ago when everyone wanted to show it off.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">3D though was everywhere, mostly for robot guidance,
although it was good to see Canadian company Hermary with their log scanning
technology.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">But back to my opening comment; why so many long faces?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">My belief is:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">a)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial;">The
big players, notably Keyence, are now so dominant they just suck in all the
attendees. I’d bet that many of the people attending didn’t have a clue who
MVTec are.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">b)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial;">Likewise,
Edmunds can afford a big, sexy display so they get lots of traffic. CCS and
Opto-Engineering don’t have such deep pockets and again, they get overlooked.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">c)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial;">Robots
are just so dammed cool, with all those arms waving about, that boring little
cameras don’t get much of a look-in.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">d)</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial;">The
AIA, under it’s ‘A3Automate’ guise, is following the money. I’m just guessing,
but I imagine it’s much more profitable to draw in a few companies with big
marketing budgets than many small fish who can’t really afford the rental on
the card scanning equipment.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Bottom line? If you’re exhibiting at this show, you’ve gotta
go big or go home.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-14228773373123601512015-03-20T07:14:00.002-04:002015-03-20T07:14:15.484-04:00Hello World!
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
As anyone engaged in innovation knows,
being creative takes effort. That’s why, after five years of
blogging three to five times a week, (which is roughly 1,000 posts
and 200,000 words,) I needed some time off.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Well a year has passed and I’m
starting to feel it’s time to rejoin the fray. I’m doing this by
spending some time at the Automate show in Chicago next week,
(<u><a href="http://www.automateshow.com/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.automateshow.com/</span></a></u>)
after which I shall be ready to resume regular, or perhaps
intermittent, posting.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Check back in a few days; I’m hoping
we can resume our relationship!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-37839349042100722192014-04-07T20:26:00.001-04:002014-04-07T20:26:03.034-04:00Computer vision videos and signing-off
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Leaving
aside the “machine vision” or “computer vision” debate, I
want to point you to some interesting and <a href="http://videolectures.net/bmvc2013_bristol/">educational
videos</a>. These are from the 2013 British Machine Vision
Conference, and they're very interesting (if rather academic.)</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Second,
regular readers will notice I've been away nearly two months. Here's
why: I've been writing this blog for about five years, and while it's
a labor of love, it also gets to be hard work at times. I've really
enjoyed all the comments and feedback I've received, and I love the
technical questions that get thrown my way, but I think it's time to
take a break.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">If
I get the urge, or need a job, I'll be back, but for now I'm signing
off.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Goodbye.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-25519366971062844502014-02-15T12:49:00.000-05:002014-02-15T12:49:03.888-05:00Digesting 2013 results from Cognex
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">On
Feb 13</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</span></sup></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
Cognex released some impressive full-year results, so why did the
stock price dive 9% on the 14</span></span><span style="color: black;"><sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</span></sup></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">?</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
have a theory, but explaining it requires a quick look at the
reported numbers:</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">For
the full year, revenue grew 9%, to $354m, and income increased 8% to
$73m.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Good
numbers to be sure, but those of you who grasp the difference between
fixed and variable costs might wonder why income grew less than
revenue. Shouldn’t it have been the reverse?</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
answer, in my humble opinion lies in the RD&E and SG&A
percentages. </span></span>
</div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Taking
RD&E (Research, Development and Engineering,) first, spend jumped
17% from Q4 ’12 to the same period in ’13. If you follow the job
listings on LinkedIn this will not have been a surprise: it’s clear
that Cognex has been growing their engineering strength for some
months. This is clearly A Good Thing and hopefully will lead to some
new products in 2014.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
18% increase in SG&A (Sales, general and Administration,) I find
a little harder to swallow. Apparently some of this resulted in
higher commissions. Really? Aren’t commissions just a straight
percentage of selling price? Why should they rise faster than
revenue? And let’s not forget that Cognex sells mostly through
distributors rather than having their own sales force, like say
Keyence. Leaving aside the fact that this strategy is killing them in
the Vision, as opposed to ID reader, market, why should costs rise
with revenue?</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Okay,
so that point has me baffled, but why should the stock price drop?</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Well
here’s my theory: stock prices are driven by expectations of future
growth. These are reflected in the price to earnings ratio, which at
46 is still sky-high, so it’s not like people are giving up on the
company. Clearly though, more investors decided to sell than to buy.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">There
were some patches of bad news in the results. Surface inspection,
Japan, and semiconductors are all struggling even though there’s
lots of growth coming from ID readers. More interesting though was
Dr. Shillman’s comment during the investor conference call. (You
can find a transcript at </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.seekingalpha.com/">www.seekingalpha.com</a></u></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.)
</span></span>
</div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Dr.
Bob said Cognex was going to stop talking about future product
activities because they were giving away too much information to
competitors. </span></span>
</div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Isn’t
that interesting? R&D spend up, concern about competitors. This
suggests the winds of change are blowing through Natick. Competitors
are bringing some heat and Cognex have decided it’s time to up
their game. </span></span>
</div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Good
for them. I’m looking forward to learning about some great new
products!</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-84090135560950219532014-02-02T22:20:00.000-05:002014-02-02T22:20:00.763-05:00New reading material
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It’s
important to stay current with advances in machine vision, which is
presumably why you read this blog, but I’d like to suggest another
source of info.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.photonics.com/Splash.aspx?PID=20">Industrial
Photonics magazine</a></u></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
launched at the start of the year, and Issue 1 looks pretty good. I
was particularly impressed with “</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?PID=20&VID=115&IID=737&Tag=Features&AID=55760">3-D
Profiling Advances Automation</a></u></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">”,
which is a pretty meaty piece by Pierantonio Boriero of Matrox. </span></span>
</div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">One
swallow does not a summer make, but if the writers and editors can
maintain their early standard this will be one of those rare
magazines worth reading rather than “filing”.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
others, in my humble opinion, are Photonics Spectra, and of course
Vision Systems Design, though the latter seems woefully thin these
days.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-10671402617788593542014-01-30T21:43:00.000-05:002014-01-30T21:43:00.069-05:00Cognex staying above the fray?
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Check
out the list of Exhibitors at this year’s “</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.visiononline.org/events/event.cfm?id=125">The
Vision Show</a></u></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">”.
All the big names are there, except one.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Know
which one I’m talking about? Yes that’s right, yet again old “Big
Yella” has decided to stay away. </span></span>
</div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I’m
not sure this is a wise move. I get that trade shows are expensive
and that the ROI is hard to pin down, but out of sight is most
definitely out of mind.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Keyence
will be there, and I expect they’ll have a big stand full of sales
people eager to explain how their vision systems will solve all your
problems. And with no Cognex on hand, who’s going to present a
counter argument?</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This
attitude of “staying out of it” seems to extend to the factory
floor too. The Engineers I talk to are being blitzed by Keyence sales
people who won’t take “No” for an answer. Eventually they let
the guy through the front door and next thing there’s Keyence
vision system out in the plant.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">If
you’re selling machine vision the best sales tool you can have is a
working system on a plant floor. Keyence are getting those installed,
and I don’t see Cognex offering any resistance.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Maybe
the problem is that they’re selling through distributors.
Distributors have other things to sell, so why invest time and effort
in complicated vision systems when you can make a faster buck from
something else, like a code reader?</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Staying
away from trade shows is one thing, but staying out of the fight for
customers is something else. I fear Cognex are losing sales and
handing the industrial market to Keyence.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-51250598350978161112014-01-29T22:32:00.003-05:002014-01-29T22:32:18.244-05:00Knowing when it’s a bin job
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In
Britain, when they say something’s a “bin job” they mean it’s
fit only for the bin, or trash, to use the American word. Thus
“binning” means you’re throwing something in the trash.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In
machine vision “binning” has an entirely different meaning.
“Binning” in this context means adding together the charges from
adjacent pixels. Thus a 2x2 bin means adding pixels pairs both
horizontally and vertically. In the case of a 640 x 480 image, it
becomes 320 x 240.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Now
since we usually want more pixels rather than fewer, you might wonder
why anyone would want to bin. Well, writing on the Adimec blog,
Gretchen Alper has an </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><u><a class="western" href="http://info.adimec.com/blogposts/bid/104547/Binning-to-increase-SNR-and-frame-rate-with-CCD-and-CMOS-industrial-cameras">explanation</a></u></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
for you.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It
all gets a bit technical, so I’m going to jump over the details and
skip to the part where I say, “check out the </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><u><a class="western" href="http://info.adimec.com/blogposts/">Adimec
blog</a></u></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.
It’s really good.”</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-3258531494513626092014-01-28T21:55:00.000-05:002014-01-28T21:55:00.029-05:00Design-in data capture from the start
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Your
machine vision inspection systems are an excellent source of data
about your products and processes. Yes, you can track dimensional
shifts, but what about changes in color or texture? What about cavity
numbers?</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Those
can all be tracked and used to generate data about the variation
within your processes. Logging cavity numbers for instance is a great
way to find out where your molding scrap comes from. And as you know,
continuous improvement thrives on data.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
problem is, adding these capabilities to an inspection system can be
difficult. We’ve all had someone from Quality ask, “Can the
vision system tell me xyz?” And the answer usually goes along the
lines of, “If you’d asked me that when I was developing the
application, yes. Adding it now is expensive.”</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Of
course, defining requirements is just good project management. I’m
just urging you to add data collection to your list </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>before</i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
you start designing and developing.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-79969650653845564322014-01-26T22:18:00.000-05:002014-01-26T22:18:00.788-05:00Don’t give me half the story!
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Interesting
Vision-guided robotics (VGR) story on the </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.optics.org/">www.optics.org</a></u></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
website. “</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><u><a class="western" href="http://optics.org/news/5/1/14">Smarter
vision system teaches robots to place parts</a></u></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">”
(January 14</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</span></sup></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">,
2014.) This describes work under in Norway to improve bin-picking
performance.</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This
is important work, because contrary to what you see at every trade
show, picking parts out of bins is really difficult. So I read the
article carefully, twice, looking for details about what the
Norwegians are doing that’s new.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Nothing.
Zip. Nada. The photo shows a laser line, so I assume there’s some
triangulation and probably point cloud generation going on, combined
with meshing of points and importation into CAD. But I’m just
guessing.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">If
asked, I’d also guess that Scorpion Vision is involved this effort.
Thor isn’t usually shy about what his company is doing, so I
imagine a press release will be forthcoming soon. But until then,
please don’t tease me with half the story.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-22094166745305879512014-01-21T22:27:00.000-05:002014-01-21T22:27:00.263-05:00Opportunity to do machine vision research
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
Bristol Robotics Laboratory, “a collaborative research partnership
of the University of the West of England and the University of
Bristol” is offering a “Funded full-time PhD studentship in 3D
computer vision”.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Details
are available at on their “</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.brl.ac.uk/jobsatbrl.aspx#!">Jobs
at BRL</a></u></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">”
web page.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This
is a huge opportunity for a young person who wants to build a name
for themselves in the world of 3D machine vision. I don’t know what
it would be like getting a visa to study in the UK, but if I was
thirty years younger I’d want to give this a go. </span></span>
</div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I’d
add that I’ve been to Bristol, and seems like a pretty decent place
to live. Expensive and a little damp, but hey, you’d be in the lab
doing exciting things with cameras, robots and software, so what’s
the problem?</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1924948806084793655.post-83165220678322429632014-01-19T22:12:00.002-05:002014-01-19T22:12:43.768-05:00Machine vision a “coattails” industry?
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Face
it, for all the pronouncements about machine vision sales hitting
$2bn, or $3bn, or even $6bn, ours is a pretty small industry.
Complicating matters, developing new products, especially image
sensors, is hugely expensive. Doing so for machine vision doesn’t
make a lot of sense, which is why we’ve always made do with
spinoffs from the consumer market.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
sense that’s changing. No, the vision industry is still a niche,
but what’s going to drive technology development in the future are
traffic applications.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">If
you want proof of this, log on to </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><u><a class="western" href="http://www.traffictechnologytoday.com/">www.traffictechnologytoday.com</a></u></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
and leaf through their magazine.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">First,
you’ll notice it’s thick, so there’s lots of advertising
dollars around. Second, it’s stuffed full of adverts for
camera-makers, companies that you’ve heard of, like Basler,
Lumenera, Point Grey, and SVS-Vistek. Third, lens companies like
Tamron are getting in on the action.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It’s
interesting to speculate on what this means for us.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
see higher sensor resolutions in the future, plus greater dynamic
range and improved ability to deal with temperature extremes.
Likewise, increased sensitivity is important to deal with poor
illumination. Pan-tilt-zoom is obviously big in the traffic world,
though it’s never found a place in machine vision. And the same
goes for zoom.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In
terms of software, I would think traffic applications put more
emphasis on dealing with fuzzy, unstructured or unpredictable images.
They need to cope with wide variations in lighting and moving
targets. There are probably other challenges I haven’t yet thought
of too. How about color for instance? Is that relevant?</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Overall
then, I see this as being a good long-term development. Increased
volumes for camera-makers should mean lower unit prices, and
competition will also mean better products. It may even be that the
traffic market becomes big enough to dictate sensor design, in which
case we could have some very interesting products in our future.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Start
your subscription to Traffic Technology magazine and watch my
predictions come true.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0