AUTOMOTIVE Vision
Greg Blackman looks at the vision equipment inspecting car manufacturing lines, a highly automated factory environment and a big user of machine vision
A
utomotive manufacture is undergoing somewhat of a resurgence and machine vision is benefiting. At the Vision 2014
trade fair, which took place in Stuttgart, Germany at the beginning of November, the VDMA presented turnover figures for the machine vision industry by sector – automotive was streaks ahead of all other industries, at more than 25 per cent of the total turnover in 2013. ‘In Germany, automotive inspection is
Stemmer Imaging’s biggest market sector and in the UK it’s our fastest growing market sector,’ Mark Williamson, director of corporate market development at Stemmer Imaging, told Imaging and Machine Vision Europe. Various companies were displaying solutions for
automotive inspection at the trade fair in Stuttgart. Allied Vision was demonstrating a portable inspection system designed by 8Tree that scans large objects like a car body, inspecting for dents. Te system projects a structured light pattern onto the side of the car and the distortion is captured by Allied Vision’s Manta G-031B camera. A bump in the car body will be highlighted with colour and its
CARS OF THE FUTURE
The number of sensors onboard modern cars is now considerable, and this includes vision sensors. In- car vision includes technology such as reversing cameras, those for detecting and reading speed signs, and sometimes thermal cameras for highlighting pedestrians. Stemmer Imaging has
been involved in a number of R&D projects, for studies
like driver tiredness detection where car companies have used machine vision cameras to develop the algorithms to prove the system works. However, Mark Williamson, director of corporate market development at Stemmer Imaging, noted that beyond R&D and feasibility studies, automotive manufacturers wouldn’t use machine vision equipment inside cars.
‘There’s almost no
crossover between the general machine vision industry and that [in-car vision] market,’ he said. ‘Yes, it’s using vision technology, but generally it’s companies like Bosch developing dedicated systems.’ Stemmer Imaging has also been involved in projects developing speed sign detection, which is a feature
18 Imaging and Machine Vision Europe • December 2014/January 2015
of many German cars now. ‘The car company used some of our tools to prove it could be done, but they then went and developed everything themselves. It’s great for feasibility and proving that the technology will work,’ Williamson added. Surveying and Formula 1 motor racing are two other areas Stemmer Imaging supplies vision equipment
for. The company is also providing 11 cameras for the Bloodhound world land speed record car that’s under development. ‘We touch in-car imaging
where it’s specialist,’ Williamson said. ‘As soon as it’s high-volume in-car stuff, it’s showing amazing machine vision capabilities, but the systems are built very much to be bespoke.’
@imveurope
www.imveurope.com
Attentra’s Robot Vision Centre can be used to inspect large parts like door panels
under the hood
dimensions displayed. And because the system is portable, it can be moved around the vehicle by the engineer to give a quick check of the body panels. Another system for inspecting larger automotive
parts like car bumpers or door panels is the Robot Vision Centre from German company Attentra. Te inspection system combines 2D imaging with 3D laser triangulation, all mounted on a robot arm. Te version demonstrated at Vision 2014 was
shown validating a car bumper, checking to make sure screws are present or that parking distance sensors are installed correctly. ‘Automotive is the largest part of our business,’
said Christian Vollrath, CEO of Attentra. ‘Tere are a lot of big components and changing components like bumpers or door panels. Here, we have a manufacturing time of 45 seconds to 1 minute, so we have a lot of time for all the checks
Attentra
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48