Integration
@imveurope
www.imveurope.com
The engine in engineering
David Dechow, at Integro Technologies, discusses vision system integration, a discipline that remains as strong as ever as new imaging technologies become more readily available
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kilful integration of machine vision for automation applications always has been a key element in the success of the
technology ever since the introduction of widely available commercial components over 35 years ago. Recently, the machine vision industry has enjoyed record growth globally, and has witnessed an expansion in the availability and capability of components for cutting-edge application areas, like 3D guidance and metrology, spectral image analysis, high-speed inspection, deep learning and others. More than ever, the competent machine vision integrator – whether an integration company or an individual within an engineering group – plays an important role in providing successful and reliable machine vision system solutions to the industrial user.
Integration versus ease of use It is important to first understand the main purpose of the task and business of machine
vision integration. Tat is, to mitigate application risk for the end user. In general, implementation techniques for machine vision technology still are not as widely understood by the overall industrial engineering community as other industrial technologies like PLCs, motion control, and even robotics. Engaging an integrator experienced in machine vision technology fundamentally helps to ensure the ultimate success and reliability of the project. Demand certainly is high, though, for machine
vision systems that require no integration. Ease of use in the application of machine vision has long been a pain point for users, as well as a goal for component and soſtware manufactures in the marketplace. In the mid 1980s many machine vision components began to emerge that did not require low-level programming and which featured user interfaces that made configuration of the tools somewhat easier. Te explosion of smart camera technology during the 1990s
34 Imaging and Machine Vision Europe • Yearbook 2018/2019
solidified the movement towards ease of use in machine vision. Te result: many less demanding machine vision applications could be addressed using components that required minimal or even no configuration. Recently new components have been announced or introduced that claim to eliminate even cursory configuration of machine vision tasks for some applications. Nonetheless, the business of machine vision
integration has thrived. As the machine vision component industry has grown at record levels recently, it appears that the machine vision integration industry also has seen significant growth (anecdotally, though, because few hard numbers are collected on machine vision integration in the marketplace). Some of the continued need for integration
services, even with so-called easy to use components is in the fundamental nature of machine vision implementation, which requires advanced knowledge about things like optics and lighting, challenging application areas that are not a common skill set in standard industrial engineering disciplines. But a large part of the sustained growth in demand for machine vision integration services is the continued and expanding need within industry for implementation of the most challenging applications requiring the use of cutting-edge machine vision technologies.
Changing landscape Over the last 10 to 15 years, machine vision system integration has become a notably more sophisticated engineering service. Successful integration companies, while perhaps continuing to offer services in configuring simpler components for more common tasks, are regularly
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