NEWS VDMA Machine Vision – Vision is everywhere!


By Anne Wendel, Head of the Machine Vision Department at the VDMA Robotics + Automation Association


There are many intensive days now behind the whole VDMA Robotics + Automation team. Automatica and the Laser World of Photonics, which both took place from 27-30 June 2023 in Munich, were packed with so many activities, meetings and talks for all of us. Automatica closed with positive results


after the four-day trade fair: 40,000 visitors, 650 exhibitors from 34 countries, 33% international visitors, and many delighted exhibitors, as can be seen in the final show report. Officially, about 130 companies had machine vision in their product portfolio. But, when walking through the show, one got the impression “Vision is everywhere”. It was included in so many demos. You could hardly see a robot without a camera or vision system. Robot vision, 3D, human-robot interaction, and AI + Vision were definitely technological trend topics. “The Leading Exhibition for Smart


Automation and Robotics” is the claim of Automatica. Smart automation is only possible with image processing. Hence, machine vision has been included in many official talks or discussions as a solution provider right from the start of Automatica in 2004, but not really visible. This has changed dramatically. With a fully booked Machine Vision Pavilion, a small presentation forum (the so-called ‘Vision Expert Huddles’) with 36 presentations in four days, we succeeded in drawing a lot of attention to machine vision. One of my personal highlights was the


joint VDMA Machine Vision tour, originally planned for the board members of VDMA Machine Vision. We opened it up and invited some guests (better described as dear friends), such as representatives from A3, CMVU, EMVA and JIIA and VDMA colleagues from India and China. Others heard about it and joined in as well. Equipped with headsets, we jointly toured the trade fair. We had appointments at some of the booths that participated in the ‘Umati@automatica connected


Automatica had 40,000 visitors and 650 exhibitors from 34 countries


machines’ demonstrator (VDMA, Asentics, MVTec, Siemens, Beckhoff and Weber Schraubautomaten). We not only asked them about their view on interoperability and what role the OPC Companion Specifications play, but also on their company’s strategy with regards to machine vision. “Now, I finally understand what umati and the companion specification are all about”, was the feedback of one participant. Afterwards, we had appointments at the special shows ‘Mobile Robots in Production’, and ‘Service Robot City’ as well as


‘A highlight for me was accompanying pupils around the show and seeing their excitement at the robots and interacting with them’


the ‘Automatica Test Zone’ where we programmed/taught a robot to grip and to interact with us. Immediately after the tour we had a (not so small) get-together at the Machine Vision Pavilion and shared some pretzels and beers with visitors and exhibitors with an interest in vision technology. An excellent networking opportunity! Another one of my highlights included the G3 board meeting with all the presidents/chairmen of the international vision associations A3, CMVU, EMVA,


8 IMAGING AND MACHINE VISION EUROPE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2023


JIIA and VDMA Machine Vision sitting together at a table face-to-face (for the first time after Covid) to discuss the importance of international cooperation in standardisation, of the IVSM (International Vision Standards Meeting) and the organisations’ future plans with regard to vision standards. A final highlight for me was


accompanying pupils around the show and seeing their excitement at the robots and interacting with them (thanks to vision of course), interviewing these young entrepreneurs and asking whether they might reconsider their future career after visiting Automatica.


VDMA Machine Vision: What comes next? After the trade fair is before the next one. VDMA Machine Vision is currently preparing a panel discussion about machine vision at the upcoming SPS trade show (November in Munich). And it has of course started preparations for Vision in Stuttgart (8-10 October 2024). Preparations for the VDMA Robotics + Automation Summit are also in full swing. The programme developed by the board of the VDMA Robotics + Automation Association includes two excellent keynotes on the culture of innovation in China and the USA, as well as moderated workshops on what is/should be the European way.


@imveurope | www.imveurope.com


Messe München


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