INDUSTRY INSIGHT
Building on a bedrock of embedded processing
Jan-Erik Schmitt of Vision Components compares embedded vision today with that of 25 years ago when the firm was founded
V
ision Components started out 25 years ago as an embedded vision company. It’s just that 25 years ago
the term ‘embedded vision’ didn’t exist. Te technology surrounding embedded
vision has inevitably changed a lot in 25 years, but the principles – a programmable imaging device – remain the same. ‘We called our product a smart camera [when Vision Components started],’ explained Jan- Erik Schmitt, vice president of sales at the firm, ‘because the knowledge you needed 25 years ago to create an embedded vision solution was high, and there were only a few companies that were able to develop a product.’ Vision Components was founded in 1996 off the back of the positive feedback Michael Engel received when he took that first smart camera to the Vision show. Engel had already had success with a previous industrial imaging company, Engel und Stiefvater. He then set about building the smart camera that would launch Vision Components, the VC11. Te goal was to lower the cost of industrial imaging – installations at Engel und Stiefvater were complex and costly, using hardware that was as big as the tower PCs of the 1990s – with a compact system where the image capture and playback could be controlled by software. Te VC11 used a single core digital signal
processor from Analog Devices, clocked at 32MHz – today, the company is working with quad-core Arm 1.2GHz processors. Engel assembled the first 250 VC11 cameras himself to get a feel for the effort involved and the potential production costs. ‘It was nice at the beginning because
there was no competition [for smart cameras],’ Schmitt said. ‘Tis changed over time.’
VC PicoSmart measures just 22 x 23.5mm 16 IMAGING AND MACHINE VISION EUROPE VISION YEARBOOK 2021/22 @imveurope |
www.imveurope.com One of the first companies to do
something similar, albeit in a different way, was DVT, later bought by Cognex. Vision Components’ VC11 was a freely programmable camera onto which customers could install their own algorithms. Most of the other products included a software suite, which meant a higher initial price but lower development cost. Schmitt said that the first four or five years Vision Components’ customers were
took specialist knowledge to build the VC11; today, an embedded vision solution can be made by students’
‘Twenty five years ago it
OEMs along with integrators, which did their own programming and could then sell the complete solution. But starting from the early 2000s in projects with low volumes it didn’t make sense for integrators to invest lots on programming. So, Vision Components’ market switched almost completely to OEM customers, machine builders or system developers with certain competencies – companies that would sell machines for a number of years and so could invest in vision software development. In the early 2000s, vision sensors came
onto the market which made smart cameras even easier to use. Vision Components’ own offering in this area was the VCM30 with a waterproof lens and lighting. But the company also collaborated with a lot of firms wanting to develop vision sensors, including many big players in the industrial sensor market. A lot of those first generation of vision sensors were based on Vision Components hardware, Schmitt said.
g
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
