MACHINE VISION SYSTEMS SUPPLEMENT FEATURE
A view from the UKIVA
A
utumn is a busy time for the UKIVA. The Association has been very active in two major exhibitions that have taken place in the last few
weeks. No less than 19 UKIVA members booked exhibition stands at this year’s PPMA Show – more than twice as many as 2014, reflecting the continuing growth in the use of vision technology in processing and packaging applications.
PPMA AWARDS The exhibition proved particularly successful for UKIVA member Multipix which was presented with the prestigious ‘Most Innovative Machine Project’ award at the PPMA Group Industry Awards dinner. Multipix worked together with systems integrator, Machine Vision Technology (MVT) to provide a unique machine vision solution for Pharma Packaging Systems (PPS). The company approached MVT as it was looking for a machine vision inspection solution for its existing range of counting and packaging machines. The purpose of the inspection is to check for broken, partially formed or cross contamination (rogue tablets from another batch). In the pharmaceutical industry, cross contamination, if left undetected before it leaves the manufacturer can cause the whole factory to be shut down for a period in addition to crippling fines. The solution was to place cameras above the final feed tray to inspect the tablet before they were bottled and counted. However, there were a number of interesting challenges to overcome. The first was that the tablets to be inspected were moving along vibrating trays, so could be touching or moving irregularly and so could be presented to the camera in any possible orientation. The second was that the tablets were moving along a stainless steel tray and the challenge here was that the Vision System provided had to differentiate between the actual product and its reflection. And thirdly, the vibratory feeders start and stop several times a minute and feed at varying rates to maximise the throughput into each bottle as the bottles index past. MVT worked closely with PPS and Multipix and developed some very sophisticated tablet tracking software that tracks each individual tablet. This continuous tracking of numerous tablets, with their associated inspection results, was a real accomplishment, very deserving of the Award and a fantastic example of the expertise and innovative thinking of UKIVA members.
PHOTONEX
At Photonex we had a wide-ranging programme of seminars that were extremely well attended. At its heart was a keynote speech given by Dr Will Maddern from Oxford University who discussed the demands on vision technology for controlling a car. Will is the leader of the ‘Robotcar’ project (
mrg.robots.ox.ac.uk/application/robotcar) that is investigating methodologies for ‘life-long infrastructure-free navigation’ that will be needed to develop vehicles that can ultimately drive themselves completely autonomously. Many UKIVA members including Acrovision, Alrad Imaging, Clearview
Imaging, LC-Tec Displays, Multipix Imaging, Scorpion Vision, Stemmer Imaging, The Config Team and Ximea all gave stimulating talks on a wide range of topics including the capabilities of CMOS sensors, SWIR InGaAs sensors, hyperspectral imaging and 3D imaging. At all exhibitions the latest edition of the UKIVA bi-annual newsletter
was available for exhibitors and visitors alike. For those that missed it, please go onto our website at
www.ukiva.org to request a copy. It is packed full of member information, product information and application stories.
Ian Alderton UKIVA Chairman
/AUTOMATION
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