The use of AI in manufacturing has increased the security and efficiency of every operation. One of the most used manufacturing tools includes machine vision. It’s used to perform an automated inspection of the items that are made each day in a multitude of thousands.
Thanks to the advances made by Artificial Intelligence, the processes of algorithm development have improved. In the field of deep learning, inspection algorithms are frequently coupled to machine-vision systems.
These systems are simpler to train and use. Machine vision systems for industrial use are additionally more robust, reliable, and stable. They are highly mechanical and have temperature stability, and are affordable cost, but have high precision. There are many applications for machine vision in manufacturing.
If you need help in choosing the right machine vision company for you, you could check out Softengi and learn more. This tech refers to a type of artificial intelligence that allows computers to “see” everything around us around them, look at image data, and make decisions from it, or gain a better understanding of the surrounding environment and the situation.
One of the main reasons that have led to the rapid charge in computer vision is the quantity of data generated in the present that is used to improve computer vision more effectively. We have a wealth of visual data from the cameras built into our mobile devices. However, while images may include images and videos, they could also refer to information from infrared or thermal sensors.
In addition to the huge collection of visual information as well as the power to analyze this data is now available and less expensive. The technology of computer vision has expanded with advanced algorithms and hardware, as have the precision rates for identifying objects. In less than a decade the current computer vision systems have risen to 100% accuracy of 50 percent. This makes them much more precise than humans at rapidly responding to visual signals.
Some of the most common applications of this tech include the following uses:
Reading Barcodes
Reading and identifying barcodes is one of the uses of machine vision. This task requires scale and numbers that humans can’t possibly fathom doing. Machines can do that with ease and in such vast numbers. Mobile phones especially require such small circuit boards or PCBs.
These are for cost printed out on one panel or one unit that then needs to be separated by a machine. A human eye won’t be capable of cutting out the right size or identifying small numbers or barcodes.
So that’s where machine vision comes in and reads the small numbers and codes after it instructs the cutting machine. Humans did do this job before, but a lot of errors were common so this is the ideal cost-effective solution from so many sides.
Object Detection
It is a machine-vision usage scenario where we have this machine vision-aided system that looks at individual objects instead of the whole image. The purpose of this task is to determine the distinct objects within an image so that it is able to eliminate objects that aren’t relevant to the inspection and concentrate on only specific objects. There are a variety of methods employed to make the process as efficient as it is.
Object detection is utilized at many different points of manufacturing industries, including assembly line sorting, quality control, and inventory management, among others. For example, when it comes to the chain of assembly for gearboxes, machine vision analyzes the image for particular components and determines the existence or absence of those parts in the image.
Defect Reduction
Naturally, if you operate an assembly line you’d like to make products or components that are completely free of flaws! Machine vision is one of the technologies that help businesses achieve this.
Machine vision inspection systems can differ significantly in regards to their application, and certainly require an operator, whereas more sophisticated vision-based solutions don’t require an operator. One of the leading companies uses an inspection system for surfaces. It identifies flaws and then stores images along with metadata that relates to the image.
When products go through an assembly line the defects are classified based on their nature and assigned a grade. This allows manufacturers to distinguish between various kinds of defects which allows them to stop the production line if X number of Y kinds of defects has been discovered.
Track and Follow
Pharmaceutical companies are naturally subject to strict rules and regulations to ensure that their products are traced and tracked from the factory to the patient. To facilitate this, their packaging is printed with information that includes, however not only limited to serial numbers and expiration dates, as well as manufacturing dates.
A globally unique identifier often referred to by the name of GTIN (Global Trade Item Identification Number) is commonly employed to allow packages to be followed globally. Manufacturing systems can automatically generate these identifiers from an existing master database.
These can be used later on during the manufacturing process. They are noted onto containers. The subsequent step in the process of production can be executed, which usually is the confirmation of the data which was drawn onto the packaging.
Measuring
The measurement of various objects’ volume, the surface area of length, width, and length is vital to figure out the area they’ll take up during transport. Physical inspections can only provide an estimation of this measurement.
With machine vision, the AI can detect the object and determine its geometrical dimensions by analyzing an image. For example, the internal diameter of the engine’s bore can be measured using an image captured by a 3D or 2D camera with machine vision. So it’s another time-saving feature that helps logistics a lot.
Facial Recognition
Facial recognition is a method to identify or confirm the identity of a person by their facial features. The systems for facial recognition can be used to recognize individuals in photographs, videos, or even in real-time.
The category of facial recognition is part that is part of biometric security. Other types used in biometric applications include fingerprint recognition, voice recognition, and eye retina, or Iris recognition. This technology is primarily utilized to protect law enforcement and security but there is growing interest in different areas of use.
