Varioptic and Cognex enter partnership for liquid lens

Jan. 4, 2010
JANUARY 4, 2010--Under the terms of the agreement, Cognex will use Varioptic's liquid lens solutions to add auto-focus capability to its line of ID code readers.

JANUARY 4, 2010--Varioptic (Lyon, France; www.varioptic.com), the liquid lens company, announced today a new partnership and licensing agreement with Cognex (Natick, MA, USA; www.cognex.com), a provider of vision-based inspection, guidance, and identification systems. Under the terms of the agreement, Cognex will use Varioptic's liquid lens solutions to add auto-focus capability to its line of ID code readers.

Cognex recently announced the expansion of its DataMan 200 line of fixed-mount, image-based ID readers with three new models that offer an integratedliquid lens.

Varioptic's liquid lens products are designed to match the requirements of low-footprint systems for 1/4- and 1/3-in. formats. They are designed to be compatible with the latest camera applications such as video continuous autofocus, which requires fast response time, low power consumption, and high reliability. With no moving parts, the liquid lens is very robust and provides a solution for harsh industrial environments, says Varioptic.

Liquid lenses have been in production with Creative Sensor (Wuxi, China) since January 2007 and also more recently, in mass production, with Japanese partner Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII).

"Cognex is pleased to have established this close working relationship with Varioptic," says Carl Gerst, business unit manager for Cognex ID products. "We believe that liquid lens technology can bring numerous performance advantages to our DataMan family of ID readers, and potentially to other areas of our product line as well."

"We are delighted that Cognex has decided to license our liquid lenses following the successful launch of their first liquid lens ID readers," adds Christian Dupont , CEO of Varioptic. "Our liquid lens can be easily integrated in optical designs for applications used in a dynamic environment which requires refocusing continuously and accurately in a very short time."

--Posted by Vision Systems Design,www.vision-systems.com

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