Andrew Wilson, Editor-in-Chief of Vision Systems Design, has been awarded the Automated Imaging Association's Achievement Award for 2013.

Professor Arno Ruckelshausen from the University of Applied Sciences (Osnabrück, Gemany) has developed a vision-based robotic system that could be used for plant phenotyping -- the assessment of plant traits such as leaf area, stem diameter and plant height and width.

The organizers of the VISION show have cancelled VISION 2013 in a move that will now see the show take place just once every two years.

In a new free-to-attend webcast from Vision Systems Design, Stephen L. Jones, the lead engineer responsible for machine vision at General Motors, will review the machine vision systems that are used in the automobile industry for traceability, inspection and robot guidance.

Engineers at GE Global Research (Niskayuna, NY, USA) are involved in a $2.5m two-year project to develop a vision-based robotic system that could transform the way hospitals manage and track their thousands of surgical tools.

With the latest generation of PC/104 imaging boards, vendors are offering numerous analog and digital interfaces to support embedded vision system development.

A modular imaging system employing customized interfaces, connectors, and housings for its hardware can be fitted to remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) that perform at depths of 4000 m below sea level.

To automate the task of computer keyboard inspection, NeuPro Solutions has developed a machine-vision system that determines the color and quality of individual keys before they are finally assembled.

Colleagues at the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics have developed a technique known as phase measurement deflectometry (PMD) to overcome the limitations of current methods used to measure the surface of diffusely reflecting objects.

In an effort to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, many governments have encouraged the deployment of alternative energy sources such as solar energy.

Block MEMS, (Marlborough, MA, USA) an engineering and development company focusing on Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs) and FTIR spectrometers, has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract funded by the US Army's Joint Improvised Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO).

ABB Robotics is collaborating with SVIA Industrial Automation (Jönköping, Sweden)to bring SVIA’s PickVision smart camera vision system to the industrial robotics market in North America.

Researchers at the School of Physics and Astronomy at Manchester University (Manchester, UK) have built a computational model of an anatomically correct sheep's heart.

International automotive supplier Continental (Hanover, Germany) has acquired automotive "surround view" system developer ASL Vision (Lewes, UK) for an undisclosed amount.