Vision Systems Design Blogs

You press the button, we do the rest

02/10/2012 - Vision Insider

This week, Eastman Kodak announced that it was to phase out its digital camera, pocket video camera, and digital picture frame businesses in the first half of this year.Founded by George Eastman in 1889, the company made its name selling inexpensive film cameras and making large margins from the film, chemicals, and paper that were required to c... Read More

Vision systems come to the aid of homeowners

02/08/2012 - Vision Insider

When my brother's sewer pipe blocked up last year, he called out the helpful chaps from Dyno-Rod. But when it became clear that the cause of the blockage wasn't immediately obvious, they took a closer look with their CCTV equipment.Now, usually blocked drains can be caused by a number of factors, but most of the time it is simply a buildup of wh... Read More

Online tutorials help demystify the selection process

02/03/2012 - Vision Insider

Determining the best industrial camera for your new system without being able to test it in a final design is important, because choosing the appropriate camera from the outset can eliminate costly redesigns or upgrades in the future.For many of us that have been involved in the vision systems design business for a while, the selection of camera... Read More

Taking the temperature of elephants

01/30/2012 - Vision Insider

Many of our readers will be familiar with the principle of operation of thermal imaging (infrared) cameras and how they can be used in a variety of applications ranging from determining the thermal loss of buildings, detecting specific gases, or monitoring production processes.But like me, most people might be surprised to hear that a group of r... Read More

Rescue teams aided by image capture and transmission...and dogs

01/18/2012 - Vision Insider

Getting a person into an inhospitable location such as a disaster zone, or an area of conflict, isn't always easy. Dogs, however, don't have the same sorts of issues and can travel places where an individual might have difficulty.So why not equip them with cameras and microphones, so their handlers can see exactly what they're up to and whether ... Read More

The man with no tan

01/16/2012 - Vision Insider

Not wanting to selfishly indulge in all of the great travel and business opportunities that come with the job of being the Editor of Vision Systems Design magazine, I have decided to dispatch our Senior Editor Dave Wilson off to one of the most prestigious of all of the events in the Vision Systems Design calendar.That's right. This week, he wil... Read More

What's next for Kinect?

01/11/2012 - Vision Insider

This past Monday, Microsoft's Craig Eisler formally announced that new Kinect for Windows hardware and accompanying software would be available from February 1 this year in 12 countries including the US at a suggested retail price of $249.Microsoft has chosen a hardware-only business model for Kinect for Windows, which means that the company wil... Read More

Simulator aids design for the visually impaired

01/06/2012 - Vision Insider

One of the problems with getting older is that one's ability to see fine details deteriorates, as does the ability to see in the dark. And that's not good if you drive a motor vehicle, because it means that -- unless you have bifocal or varifocal glasses -- you could struggle to read the instrument cluster while driving.Recognizing that fact, re... Read More

Us and them

01/04/2012 - Vision Insider

Last month, an RQ-170 Sentinel UAV nicknamed the "Beast of Kandahar" fell into the hands of the Iranians after the United States Department of Defense lost control of it while it was flying through Iranian airspace.Needless to say, the high-tech piece of Lockheed Martin gear was immediately put on display by the Iranians, who claimed to have bro... Read More

Image processing is all in the mind?

12/29/2011 - Vision Insider

If you are anything like me, you probably gave out one or two video games as presents to some of your younger relatives over the holiday season. If you did, however, you ought to be aware of the danger involved, and the potential repercussions of your actions.Apparently, according to research carried out by academics in the UK and Sweden, some v... Read More

Christmas time is here again

12/22/2011 - Vision Insider

It's that time of year again. That time when many of us will be erecting a fir in the corner, decking the halls with boughs of holly, and sitting back to enjoy a glass of mulled wine as we roast chestnuts over an open fire.That's right. It's Christmas, the festive season in which we put our work to one side for a while to enjoy a few well-deserv... Read More

Recycling light bulbs with vision

12/21/2011 - Vision Insider

The United Nations is urging countries across the globe to phase-out old style incandescent light bulbs and switch to low-energy compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs to save billions of dollars in energy costs as well as help combat climate change.One issue with such bulbs is that they contain minute traces of mercury, however, and hence should... Read More

New standard aims to accelerate image processing

12/16/2011 - Vision Insider

It goes without saying that computer vision has become an essential ingredient of many modern systems, where it has been used for numerous purposes including gesture tracking, smart video surveillance, automatic driver assistance, visual inspection, and robotics.Many modern consumer computer-based devices -- from smart phones to desktop computer... Read More

Embedded vision is just a game

12/14/2011 - Vision Insider

In the late 1970s, game maker Atari launched what was to become one of the most popular video games of the era -- Asteroids.Those of our readers old enough to remember might recall how thrilling it was back then to navigate a spaceship through an asteroid field which was periodically traversed by flying saucers, shooting and destroying both whil... Read More

It's a bug's life (revisited)

12/09/2011 - Vision Insider

Remotely operated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with wireless video and still cameras can be used in a variety of applications, from assisting the military and law enforcement agencies in surveillance duties, to inspecting large remote structures such as pipelines and electric transmission lines.Typically, however, such vehicles are q... Read More

I can see clearly now

12/07/2011 - Vision Insider

While I've always been short-sighted, until not long ago it was always pretty easy for me to read books or magazines while wearing the same set of glasses that helped me see at great distances.But over the past couple of years, it became apparent that I not only needed glasses to correct for myopia but also to assist with looking at things close... Read More

In your eye

12/05/2011 - Vision Insider

While industrial vision systems might seem pretty sophisticated beasts, none has really come close to matching the astonishing characteristics of the human eye.Despite that fact, even the human eye is often less than perfect, as those suffering from short or long-sightedness will testify. Those folks inevitably end up seeking to correct such pro... Read More

Complementary technologies compete

11/30/2011 - Vision Insider

Over the past few years, advances in imaging technology have led to the development of some astonishing products in the medical field. Perhaps none has proved more useful at diagnosing brain activity as functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI.But the fMRI technology does have its drawbacks. While it has a good spatial resolution of a few m... Read More

Optical 3-D dental scanner wins VISION 2011 prize

11/23/2011 - Vision Insider

Anyone who has been to the dentist can testify to the fact that undergoing root canal and crown therapy or being measured up for dentures isn't the most pleasant of experiences.So I was particularly pleased to see that a dental scanner that promises to take the misery out of such a process has won this year's EUR5000 top prize at the VISION 2011... Read More

Smart cards and 3-D imaging

11/18/2011 - Vision Insider

Traveling to Europe can be an exhilarating experience. The chance to make contact with the Old World and its customs can be both delightful and enchanting. But it can also be frustrating, especially for visitors from the United States.My visit to VISION 2011 in Stuttgart was no exception. Stopping off to catch up with my brother in the UK after ... Read More

A booming business?

11/16/2011 - Vision Insider

If you watch the daily news on television, you might be forgiven for thinking that Europe is in a complete financial and economic mess. But you wouldn't think so if you attended last week's VISION Show 2011. For there, a record number of companies and attendees filled the halls of the Messe Stuttgart, proving that despite the problems that might... Read More

Mistaken identity

11/04/2011 - Vision Insider

Next week marks the start of one of the biggest event in Vision Systems Design's calendar -- the VISION 2011 show in Stuttgart Germany.Accompanying me to the show this year will be Susan Smith, our publisher; Judy Leger, our national sales manager; and the latest addition to our editorial team, Dave Wilson.As many of you may know, Dave joined th... Read More

Win $50,000 courtesy of the US Government!

11/01/2011 - Vision Insider

Today's troops often confiscate remnants of destroyed documents from war zones, but reconstructing entire documents from them is a daunting task.To discover if they can unearth a more effective means to do just that, the folks at DARPA have come up with a challenge that they hope will encourage individuals to develop a more automated solution.Th... Read More

Camera runs at 40,000 frames per second

10/26/2011 - Vision Insider

A camera invented at the Langley Field Laboratory has captured images at an astonishing 40,000 frames/s, providing researchers with a great deal of insight concerning the phenomenon of knock in spark-ignition engines over a six-year period.The high-speed motion picture camera operates on a principle that its inventors call optical compensation. ... Read More

From dissertation to product release

10/21/2011 - Vision Insider

In 2006, Ren Ng's PhD research on lightfield photography won Stanford University's prize for best thesis in computer science as well as the internationally recognized ACM Dissertation award.Since leaving Stanford, Dr. Ng has been busy starting up his own company called Lytro (Mountain View, CA, USA), to commercialize a camera based on the princi... Read More

Sent to Coventry

10/19/2011 - Vision Insider

This week, I dispatched our European editor Dave Wilson off to the Photonex trade show in Coventry in the UK to discover what novel machine-vision systems might be under development in Europe.Starting off early to beat the traffic jams on the motorway, he arrived at the Ricoh show grounds at the ungodly hour of eight in the morning. But that gav... Read More

Steve Jobs, the OEM integrator, and me

10/14/2011 - Vision Insider

Back in 1990, I decided to start my own publishing company. Transatlantic Publishing, as the outfit was called, was formed specifically to print a new magazine called The OEM Integrator, a journal that targeted folks building systems from off-the-shelf hardware and software.I hadn't given much thought to that publication for years, until last we... Read More

Technology repurposing can be innovative, too

10/12/2011 - Vision Insider

More years ago than I care to remember, the president of a small engineering company asked me if I would join several other members of his engineering team on a panel to help judge a competition that he was running in conjunction with the local high school.The idea behind the competition was pretty simple. Ten groups of students had each been su... Read More

Software simplifies system specification

10/07/2011 - Vision Insider

National Instruments' NI Week in Austin, TX was a great chance to learn how designers of vision-based systems used the company's LabVIEW graphical programming software to ease the burden of software development.But as useful as such software is, I couldn't help but think that it doesn't come close to addressing the bigger issues faced by system ... Read More

Spilling the military vision beans

10/05/2011 - Vision Insider

While there are many fascinating application challenges that have been resolved by machine-vision systems, there are many that go unreported.That's because the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that create such vision-based machines are required to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with their customers to restrict what information can ... Read More

Imaging is all in the mind

09/29/2011 - Vision Insider

In the 1983 science-fiction movie classic Brainstorm, a team of scientists invents a helmet that allows sensations and emotions to be recorded from a person's brain and converted to tape so that others can experience them.While this seemed quite unbelievable thirty years ago, it now appears that scientists at the University of California-Berkele... Read More

Mugging more effective than infrared imaging

09/27/2011 - Vision Insider

All technology can be used for both good and evil purposes. Take infrared cameras, for example. While they can be used to provide a good indication of where your house might need a little more insulation, they can also be used by crooks to capture the details of the PIN you use each time you slip your card into an ATM to withdraw cash.That, at l... Read More

Sick bay uses high-tech imaging

09/23/2011 - Vision Insider

While the exploitation of vision systems has made inspection tasks more automated, those systems have also reduced or eliminated the need for unskilled workers.But such workers won't be the only ones to suffer from the onslaught of vision technology -- pretty soon even skilled folks in professions such as medicine might start to see their roles ... Read More

More to follow...

09/19/2011 - Vision Insider

Starting this month, the Vision Insider blog will offer you the reader an opinionated twice a week update about industry trends, market reports, new products and technologies. While many of these will be staff-written, we will be using this forum to allow you our readers to opine on subjects such as machine vision and image processing standards,... Read More

Conard Holton appointed to Laser Focus World as Editor-in-Chief, Associate Publisher

08/19/2011 - Vision Insider

Conard Holton has accepted a new position as Associate Publisher and Editor in Chief of a sister publication, Laser Focus World. Andy Wilson, founding editor of Vision Systems Design, will be taking over the role of editor in chief. Andy has been the technical mainstay of Vision Systems Design since its beginning fifteen years ago, writing many ... Read More

VIDEO BLOG - Psychometric theory

07/27/2011 - My View

VIDEO: Image-processing techniques may someday reveal much about our professional capabilities and potential--then again, some things are best left unsaid... Editor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or just what's b... Read More

VIDEO BLOG - Smaller on the inside

06/29/2011 - My View

VIDEO: The space-time continuum distorts perception of size -- a rule in physics that could as well be applied to the machine-vision industry... Editor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or just what's been buzzing t... Read More

Lightfield camera headed for the consumer market

06/22/2011 - Vision Insider

A recent article in the New York Times reveals that Lytro, a Mountain View, CA startup, plans to release a lightfield camera into the point-and-shoot consumer market later this year, allowing professional and amateur photographers to "take shots first and focus later."With $50 million in venture funding, the company is led by Ren Ng, a Stanford ... Read More

Don Braggins remembered

06/03/2011 - Vision Insider

Don Braggins, a long-standing and highly respected figure in the machine vision industry, has passed away at age 70. Founder of Machine Vision Systems Consultancy in Royston, England, in 1983, Don specialized in image processing and analysis and was a frequent contributor to and participant in organizations such as the European Machine Vision As... Read More

EMVA meeting--machine vision business good, missed the volcano

05/27/2011 - Vision Insider

From May 12-14, more than 140 attendees at the 2011 EMVA business conference in Amsterdam celebrated the soaring market for machine vision products and recounted tales of traveling home from the 2010 meeting in Istanbul through the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano "Cloud". They didn't realize they would just miss yet another cloud from an Icelandic vol... Read More

New iPhone App for 3-D imaging

05/19/2011 - Vision Insider

It's not exactly machine vision yet, but a researcher at Georgia Tech, Grant Schindler, has created what appears to be the first 3-D scanner app for an iPhone 4. Using both the screen and the front-facing camera, the app--called Trimensional--detects patterns of light reflected off a face to build a true 3-D model.Schindler says Trimensional can... Read More

Machine vision vs Angry Birds

05/09/2011 - Vision Insider

Readers of Vision Systems Design may know that OptoFidelity (Tampere, Finland) makes systems that test user experience with products such as PDAs and mobile phones. In fact, our October 2009 cover story featured one of the company’s automated test systems, the WatchDog, which performed just such a test using a JAI Camera Link camera and Na... Read More

Vision guides Justin the Robot playing ball

04/28/2011 - Vision Insider

This video explains it all. The DLR in Germany has developed Justin over the years as a very adaptable research robot, able to perform duties from acting as a butler to potentially working on a satellite.The vision and motion capabilities shown by Justin in the video are remarkable. We will be covering more of such capabilities in the coming mon... Read More

Machine vision industry consolidation - what's next?

04/27/2011 - Vision Insider

Now that the recession is over and profits are rising fast, it seems that many companies are considering how to expand their markets and solidify both geographical and technological positions. The acquisition of LMI Technologies by Augusta Technologie, parent of Allied Vision Technologies, is just the most recent example of course.Augusta also r... Read More

Remotely controlled equipment in action at Fukushima

04/15/2011 - Vision Insider

This video from IDG News Service highlights some of the roles played by robotic equipment in the analysis and recovery from the disasters at the Fukushima nuclear power plants in Japan.The plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) deployed three camera-equipped, remote-controlled excavators donated by Shimizu and Kajima to clear radioa... Read More

Having fun with Kinect and machine vision

04/12/2011 - Vision Insider

In the course of researching our Vision for Service Robots market report, it became obvious that low-end vision systems would be a great boon to robot developers of all sorts. And indeed, researchers are taking advantage of low-cost consumer sensors to design increasingly capable and inexpensive robots. The Microsoft Kinect, designed for the Xbo... Read More

Robots search and assess Japanese disaster sites

04/05/2011 - Vision Insider

Increasingly, vision-guided service robots are being deployed for rescue and assessment tasks following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. A recent blog on IEEE Spectrum covers the deployment of KOHGA3 by a team from Kyoto University. The team used the remote-controlled ground robot to enter a gymnasium in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, in the ... Read More

Automate 2011 shows synergy of shows

03/29/2011 - Vision Insider

I don’t know whether Automate 2011 (held at McCormick Place in Chicago, March 21-24) was a success for every exhibitor and attendee, but it had all the necessary elements. Unofficial numbers for the show were 170 exhibitors and over 7500 attendees.The floor traffic, which waxed and waned during the four days of the show, seemed to consist ... Read More

Will earthquake impact machine vision component supply?

03/17/2011 - Vision Insider

News about the supply chain of vision and electronic components coming from Japan has so far been tentative and sporadic. The ongoing effects of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant failures have dominated the news but indications of specific global economic consequences are emerging. A New York Times article today investigates some ... Read More

VIDEO BLOG - Trains and drains

03/09/2011 - My View

VIDEO: The interiors of drains, train tunnels, and arteries are not so dissimilar, and designers of machine-vision systems should bring 3-D imaging to this frontier... Editor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or jus... Read More

Hummingbird with video camera

02/18/2011 - Vision Insider

A new surveillance device may be arriving at your bird feeder soon. Yesterday, AeroVironment (Monrovia, CA), announced that it had got its Nano Hummingbird to precisely hover and fly forward, fast. Weighing two thirds of an ounce, including batteries and video cameras, the prototype was built as part of the DARPA Nano Air Vehicle program.The fin... Read More

VIDEO BLOG - Volume discounts do not apply

02/04/2011 - My View

VIDEO: System integrators face enough headaches trying to find and test components—could they get a little help from the OEMs?... Editor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or just what's been buzzing through hi... Read More

New Year - New Web site

12/30/2010 - Vision Insider

The redesign of the Vision Systems Design Web site is the first in a series of new developments for 2011. Our address remains: www.vision-systems.com, but you will find a new look and numerous enhancements to help engineers and system integrators make use of machine vision and image processing products and technologies.One of the key improvement... Read More

Sleeps with the fishes

12/07/2010 - My View

VIDEO: Dreadful things may happen to vision systems designers who fail to find components that stand the test of time...Editor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or just what's been buzzing through his mind lately. Yo... Read More

Arms Trafficking

11/22/2010 - My View

VIDEO: Beware, system integrators--you may run afoul of regulations that limit the export of frequently used machine-vision components...Editor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or just what's been buzzing through hi... Read More

VISION 2010 – Parting views

11/17/2010 - Vision Insider

After three demanding days on the show floor and travel home from Stuttgart (in many cases delayed by a fierce storm over northern Europe), it’s clear that VISION 2010 was a major success, a relief to the organizers and exhibitors, and a good omen for 2011.(Figure: The Mid-Size Robocup Team: Tech United Eindhoven put on a show)In no partic... Read More

VISION 2010 – Day One, VISION Award, market news

11/09/2010 - Vision Insider

Stuttgart, November 9—The anticipation seems to have been rewarded for the now-official 323 exhibitors (a record number), as most exhibitors were delighted with the quantity and quality of leads. More coverage of the show is available at this link.At a press conference the winner of the VISION Award was announced: SICK, for its ColorRanger... Read More

VISION 2010 - As the show begins

11/08/2010 - Vision Insider

November 8, Stuttgart--Preparations are hectically concluding for tomorrow's start of the 23rd annual VISION show. This is the third year that the show is held in the Neue Messe Stuttgart--the new, very large and sprawling complex next to the airport. The old Killesberg location was cozier for sure, but could never have accommodated the 306 exhi... Read More

Information is power

11/03/2010 - My View

VIDEO: Better online search tools will help system integrators explore the often fog-bound world of machine-vision products, trends, and market opportunities...Editor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or just what's ... Read More

Men at Work

09/22/2010 - My View

VIDEO: Rather than wasting energy battling over code, machine-vision software makers would do better to take a lesson in sampling from the music industry...Editor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or just what's been... Read More

VISION 2010: a study in variations of machine vision

09/08/2010 - Vision Insider

As machine vision technologies and products become more established across multiple industries, tradeshows such as the forthcoming VISION 2010 to be held November 9-11 at the New Stuttgart Trade Fair Centre in Stuttgart, Germany, will reflect these trends. Indeed, during VISION 2010, a panel discussion entitled: “Green Vision – Drivi... Read More

Hyperspectral imaging heads commercial

08/26/2010 - Vision Insider

Multispectral imaging enables several discrete images in the visible and IR bands of the spectrum to be captured and processed. To capture continuous spectral bands from the ultraviolet to the far infrared, hyperspectral imaging is a powerful if often expensive imaging tool.Hyperspectral remote-sensing applications have flourished for several de... Read More

Big Pharma needs machine vision

08/23/2010 - Vision Insider

Discussions on the Vision System Design Group on LinkedIn have recently reflected the growing interest in using machine vision to inspect pharmaceutical products. We have published a series of technical article that might be of interest.One article about a pharmaceutical packing system that uses IR and visible sensors describes how American Sens... Read More

Robots, with vision, at your service

07/23/2010 - Vision Insider

A recent article and video in the New York Times describes Bandit, a robot built by researchers at the University of Southern California, which interacts with autistic children. Three-foot-tall Bandit can maintain “eye” contact with an autistic child and, sometimes, use playful or sympathetic actions to overcome withdrawn behavior. ... Read More

July VSD online--Hyperspectral imaging, minature autofocus lenses, 3-D vision

07/19/2010 - Vision Insider

To capture continuous spectral bands from the UV to the far IR, hyperspectral imaging has become a powerful imaging tool. In our July issue, Rand Swanson at Resonon describes a compact hyperspectral imaging system that has been flown in a Cessna aircraft to monitor the spread of leafy spurge, an invasive weed that reduces grazing forage for live... Read More

Blogging about machine vision – interested?

07/07/2010 - Vision Insider

Some cynics I know mock the idea of blogging, but I think it’s a good way to explore a subject such as machine vision. And a blogger might even be paid the highest compliment--having your blog blogged about.A case in point: editor Andy Wilson’s My View video blog on the Vision Systems Design website was recently blogged about by Laur... Read More

Pushing buttons

07/07/2010 - My View

VIDEO: Describing the technology behind a product will do more to win customers than selling based on simplistic marketing techniquesEditor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or just what's been buzzing through his mi... Read More

June issue: vision-guided robots, software, and Three Mile Island

06/22/2010 - Vision Insider

Our June issue is now available on our website. The articles in it point to some of the many ways in which machine vision is evolving. I glimpsed this potential in 1982, when I watched the feed from the first remote video camera lowered into a reactor vessel at Three Mile Island, after the nuclear accident had destroyed the reactor core in 1979.... Read More

Art, vision, and ALS - forget eye-tracking for shoppers

06/11/2010 - Vision Insider

We've seen eye-tracking systems that help determine the preferences of shoppers or website browsers. Here's one that could really benefit people who suffer from physical limitations: The EyeWriter project.It's an ongoing collaborative research effort to empower people who are suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS; aka Lou Gehrig's di... Read More

The Vision Show revealed--on video

06/08/2010 - Vision Insider

The most interesting thing for me about The Vision Show in Boston (May 25-27) was the simple fact that about 80 exhibitors put on a very upbeat and comprehensive showing of machine vision components available to integrators and end-users.In one place you could see and touch the cameras, lighting, boards, cabling, etc that you might want to desig... Read More

British military envisions how imaging catches insurgents

06/07/2010 - Vision Insider

Using very high-resolution digital cameras, multispectral imaging, and laser ranging, the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) says that new imaging technology will be used within 5 years to recognize insurgents or terrorists. DSTL, which develops and tests the latest technologies for the Ministry of Defence, had members o... Read More

Empty garden

06/03/2010 - My View

VIDEO: Managing a machine-vision company can require the skills of a good gardener, notably one who nourishes new growthEditor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or just what's been buzzing through his mind lately. Yo... Read More

Imaging battles Gulf oil disaster

05/24/2010 - Vision Insider

Satellite imaging and paricle image velocimetry are two of the imaging techniques being deployed against the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. A May 22 article in the New York Times describes several of the techniques that researchers are using to try a get an accurate measurement of the oil spill.One approach is described in more detail by one o... Read More

Machine vision lives in Iran

05/13/2010 - Vision Insider

While cruising the Bosphorus I met a vision system integrator from Tehran. Kasra Ravanbakhsh is the co-founder and managing director of Kasra Hooshmand Engineering (KDI). I was of course taken with him since he attributed his attendance at the EMVA Business Conference in Istanbul with seeing an advertisement for it in Vision Systems Design.It tu... Read More

An interactive atlas about global automation

05/12/2010 - Vision Insider

If you manufacture automation equipment, including machine vision systems and robots, and you’re wondering where in the world to look for commercial growth opportunities, then you should review the Automation Atlas. The Atlas shows the relative degree of automation in a country by showing the estimated number of robots per employees in pro... Read More

Riding the Bosphorus Express—Istanbul to Munich

04/22/2010 - Vision Insider

For the 150 people attending the European Machine Vision Association Business Conference in Istanbul last week, the meeting began as a fascinating visit to a beautiful city with a rich history, but not one usually on the machine-vision meeting circuit. As the presentations, market reports, networking, and boat cruise passed, the specter of &ldqu... Read More

Bad shoes

04/21/2010 - My View

VIDEO: With the aid of machine vision, long-term product testing strategies are essential to ensure that only the highest quality goods reach the market.Editor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or just what's been bu... Read More

Omens at trade shows

04/05/2010 - Vision Insider

Predicting the market outlook for machine vision products can seem akin to interpreting the patterns of tea leaves or Tarot cards or even practicing myomancy – studying the movements of mice to foretell the future. However, those attending and exhibiting at this spring’s spate of machine vision and image processing trade shows may pr... Read More

A fool for milk

04/01/2010 - Vision Insider

When I first read about automated cow milking machines that use machine vision, I thought it was amusing. Last year, LMI Technologies was working with GEA Farm Technologies to adapt its 3-D time-of-flight imager to the task of producing happier cows and higher yields.Now I find that robot maker Fanuc Robotics has taken the concept of automated m... Read More

Getting a bit better all the time

03/31/2010 - Vision Insider

It seems that the market for machine vision products and systems is improving. IMS Research in the UK says the recovery in the world machine vision market is gathering pace, as shown by its latest quarterly report consolidating revenue data from major suppliers.John Morse, the managing analyst for the tracking report says, “The market appe... Read More

Adventures in Imaging

03/30/2010 - Vision Insider

If you'd like to know what's going on with the VC crowd and new ideas in imaging, you could attend the MIT Imaging Ventures class on March 30, 2010. If you missed it, here is the panel of entrepreneurs and technologists--a list that is very interesting to check out:• Kenny Kubala, FiveFocal ~ Advanced imaging and optics;• Rob Rowe, Lum... Read More

A little knowledge

03/25/2010 - My View

VIDEO: By adding intelligence to their products, vendors will reduce the need for software development by their customers while opening a path to even more sophisticated systems.Editor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketpla... Read More

BigShot could be a big deal for machine vision

02/08/2010 - Vision Insider

Simpler cameras with embedded intelligence sounds like a good idea. In fact many vendors of smart cameras for machine vision are already heading in this direction, adding FPGAs, DSPs, and CPUs to their products so that their customers can build ever-more sophisticated systems without some of the software development needed for custom application... Read More

A possible inconvenience

02/04/2010 - My View

VIDEO: Innovative 'new economy' ideas for marketing machine-vision products may have an unexpected cost--timeEditor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or just what's been buzzing through his mind lately. You can also ... Read More

Take a bow

01/04/2010 - My View

Editor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or just what's been buzzing through his mind lately. You can also read Andy's "My View" as seen in the December issue of Vision Systems Design.America's Public Broadcasting Se... Read More

Digital evolution

12/22/2009 - Vision Insider

This blog and our redesigned Vision Systems Design web site (http://www.vision-systems.com/) are part of our response to rapid changes in publishing--both print and digital. With the New Year we have begun collaboration with three related technology publications--Laser Focus World, Industrial Laser Solutions, and BioOptics World-- to provide a r... Read More

An invasion of privacy

12/07/2009 - My View

Editor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or just what's been buzzing through his mind lately. You can also read Andy's "My View" as seen in the November issue of Vision Systems Design.Once or twice a year I have the ... Read More

Bitter about Twitter

10/15/2009 - My View

Editor's Note: Watch the video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or just what's been buzzing through his mind lately. You can also read Andy's "My View" as seen in the current issue of Vision Systems Design.Before the age of information tec... Read More

The royal 'we'

08/27/2009 - My View

Editor's Note: This month we launch a video version of editor Andy Wilson's "My View" blog, where you'll get Andy's unique take on what's buzzing through the machine-vision marketplace or just what's been buzzing through his mind lately.Last month, I again had the pleasure of attending a very large trade show. There, as every year before, hordes... Read More

A glowing future

07/30/2009 - My View

Ever since I was young, I have always liked taking things apart, and my father, being a mechanical engineer, was only too willing to encourage me in my endeavors. And so in 1979 when his expensive, wooden cabinet-sized tube-based stereo system failed, I decided to attempt to repair it.After my brother and I lifted the cabinet to the center of th... Read More

Ready for prime time

06/24/2009 - My View

It has been 36 years since I last watched a motion picture in three dimensions. That particular motion picture, Andy Warhol's Frankenstein, as most critics would agree, featured the highest camp this side of the Appalachian Trail. Although the movie itself was awful, the 3-D effects that were produced were as I recall rather impressive.So, when ... Read More

Something old, something new

06/09/2009 - My View

Many years ago, before the advent of personal computers, journalists used typewriters to compose their musings. After an article was typed, it was proof-read and then sent to be typeset on a typesetting machine that produced long strips of type known as galleys.The galleys were returned to the publishing company, where they were pasted onto boar... Read More

It's not easy being green

05/04/2009 - My View

One of the benefits of being a journalist is that one occasionally is treated to very expensive meals by companies looking to gain some exposure. Such food tastes especially good since, as my father used to say, it doesn't taste of copper. Sometimes, however, meeting a number of companies in a single day means that the potential of a meal must b... Read More

The Magical Mystery Tour

04/07/2009 - My View

Stuart Singer, vice president of Schneider Optics, is one of the most knowledgeable and passionate people you could ever meet. He knows light, optics, and lenses and can tell you exactly what you need to understand when choosing a lens for your machine-vision or image-processing application. Unfortunately, that's where his talent ends. Last year... Read More

Drive my car

02/13/2009 - My View

I have always been a fan of Toyota Motor Corporation. So much so, in fact, that I am the proud owner of a Toyota Corolla, an outstanding motor vehicle that has presented me with very few problems since I purchased it nine years ago. My enthusiasm for the company's products, however, diminished considerably after a recent road trip to Canada.Afte... Read More

Roll your own

01/20/2009 - My View

Personally, I have never rolled my own cigarettes. Being on a jet plane for half my life I am privy to the wonders of duty-free stores, where I spend my hard-earned pay on Dunhill International cigarettes. These fine English tobacco products are perfectly rolled, inexpensive, and meet the requirements of my not-so-sociable habit.But there are ot... Read More

A bad case of the blues

12/10/2008 - My View

After leaving my trusty Canon digital camera in the back of a cab while attending a tradeshow in Las Vegas, I was forced to purchase another. Upon visiting the local Best Buy with the name and model number of the camera that I had inadvertently mislaid, I was informed by the salesman that the camera I had previously purchased was no longer in pr... Read More

Will history repeat itself?

11/12/2008 - My View

Years ago, our publishing company produced a magazine entitled Computer Graphics World. Its premise was rather simple. Editors wrote about a number of different graphics components -- display controllers, monitors, software -- that were used in a number of different markets ranging from architectural and mechanical CAD to 3-D graphics rendering ... Read More

Talking about my generation

10/16/2008 - My View

Talking about my generationInnovations in machine-vision hardware and software may best be found in unexpected sources and partnershipsOn a recent trip to England I was fortunate enough to stay with my brother Dave and his son Paul, who is studying how to program FPGAs at the University of Bristol. As usual, I needed to know about all the books,... Read More

A singularity in time

09/05/2008 - My View

The future may be an extension of the past, except with androids hard at workSeveral years ago, when both my son and I were a lot younger, we decided to watch Tim Holland's movie "The Langoliers" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112040). This made-for-TV movie's basic premise is that people on an aircraft can go back in time. Having arrived in the ... Read More

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