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Special Features Highlights 2006 p5 of 6:

• Integrators, camera makers, and end users must work together
  A discussion with Ross Rawlings of Radix Controls

  VSD: How is Radix Controls using machine vision and automated systems?

• Systems perspective maximizes the potential of vision
  A discussion with Erik Goethert of Boston Engineering

  VSD: How are you using machine vision and automated systems?

• Reliability and ease of implementation are critical for manufacturing
  A discussion with Kevin Harding of the GE Global Research Center

  VSD: What general needs do you see at GE for machine vision in manufacturing?

• High-speed inspection relies on innovations in software and open standards
  A discussion with Neil Cronin of Zynergy Solutions
• Applications keep increasing for smart cameras
  A discussion with David Pilliod of Advanced Control Solutions

  VSD: How is ACS using machine vision and automated systems?

• Vision systems offer options for auto-part inspection
  A discussion with Nigel Holmes of Federal-Mogul

  VSD: Federal-Mogul supplies automotive components, subsystems, and systems for OEMs and the aftermarket. What types of problems are you looking at vision systems to overcome in manufacturing? Which types of products require which types of systems?

• Processors embed programmable logic
  In many smart-camera and image-processing boards, developers combine the power of general-purpose-processor or DSP-based systems with programmable logic. Now, Stretch (Mountain View, CA, USA; www.stretchinc.com) has combined the two approaches in a single family of devices known as the S5000 series. By embedding programmable logic inside a software-programmable processor, system designers can extend the processor instruction set itself.
• Tea sorted by selective vision system
  After harvest, herbs and tea plants become mingled with foreign material that must be removed before packaging. Traditional sorting methods have failed to yield satisfactory purity or discarded too much material. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Information and Data Processing (Karlsruhe, Germany; www.iitb.fhg.de) have solved this problem by adding a high-speed vision system to the sorting process.
• 3-D system guides wheelchair, wins design competition
  An imaging-based wheelchair collision-avoidance system may help people with cognitive disabilities gain increased mobility and feelings of independence. The 3-D imaging system was developed by researchers at the University of Toronto and won the $10,000 top prize in a design competition sponsored by Canesta (Sunnyvale, CA, USA; www.canesta.com) to implement the company's electronic perception technology.
• IR camera sees slag
  Westar Energy (Topeka, KS, USA; www.sr.com) needed to monitor for slag problems in boilers that drive three 800-MW generators at its St. Marys, KS, USA, electric-generating plant. Traditionally, operators would wear protective visors to see through inspection ports for signs of slag buildup. "That's typical practice in the utility industry, and we make multiple inspections per day," says Carl Schultz, senior PdM analyst for thermography at Westar.

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