DLideas 5: Machine Vision Part 1

The DLideas series focuses on current developments in the world of DLP^® and emerging applications using the technology.

Did you know that artificial vision systems like 3D machine vision and computer vision can be seen all around us?

Machine vision is a very broad term with a lot of overlap between it and another artificial vision system called computer vision. An artificial vision system combines lighting, optics, electronics, information technology, cameras and sensors, computers, software, and hardware automation technology in order to provide machines or devices with the ability to actually see, recognize objects for situations, and to make the right decisions accordingly.

3D machine vision describes the understanding and interpretation of technically obtained images for controlling manufacturing and production processes. It enables precise, adaptive and intelligent robotic systems, which are aware of their environment and/or target. Depending on what the software has been pre-programmed to do, the system can trigger a variety of actions and responses to take based on the findings.

3D machine vision tends to refer to automatic inspection, detection, recognition and identification applications in the industrial space. For example, this includes surface and packaging inspection, defect detection, automatic printed circuit board inspection, checking dimensions on parcel packages, materials inspection, label inspection on products, medical vial inspection, object sorting, wafer dicing, as well as electronic component analysis.

3D computer vision refers to artificial vision technology found in the non-industrial space. 3D computer vision applications are all around us in our daily lives. Computer vision, or image understanding, is a discipline that focus on how to reconstruct, interpret, and understand a 3D scene from its 2D images in regards to properties of the structure present in the scene. Computer vision refers to the capture and automation of image analysis with an emphasis on image analysis and the construction of digital 3D models of an object.