A surprising turn
Etonne-moi [astonish me] was the phrase used by ballet master Sergei Diaghilev to inspire the young writer and artist Jean Cocteau into developing Parade, one of the most revolutionary ballets of the early 20th century. To create this spectacle, Cocteau collaborated with Pablo Picasso and the composer Eric Satie. Although we don’t have that team available, we do have our own very talented and avant-garde art director, Suzanne Heiser, and surrealist illustrator, Dan Rodd, who guided a redesign of Vision Systems Design.
Our new look may surprise you a bit, yet it is more evolutionary than radical, and we think it furthers our mission to provide our audience of engineers and system integrators with clear, technical, usable information about machine vision and image-processing systems. The redesign also complements our recently redesigned Web site at vision-systems.com; our e-newsletters, including a new monthly mailing dedicated to vision and automation products; and our ongoing webcast series on vision systems used in the production of electronics, consumer packaging, pharmaceutical goods, and medical devices.
Behind the curtain
This issue also introduces a new feature series called Integration Insights. Fittingly, the first article is about the benefit to quality that machine-vision systems can bring. In the article, Valerie Bolhouse, formerly a vision specialist at Ford Motor Company, describes implementing a vision-based Six Sigma process-improvement program to produce products with almost no defects.
Such cost savings seem especially relevant when dealing with the printing of money. In this vein, an article by contributing editor Winn Hardin describes a system that uses a color linescan camera along with custom lens and lighting to check European currency for flaws. In another article, Hardin writes about a 3-D system in which a single camera replaces four cameras in a system that inspects automotive engine parts.
And, editor Andy Wilson probes the challenges faced by frame-grabber vendors and system integrators planning to use the next-generation of PC-based vision systems. Read his article “Speeding up the bus” to understand the latest developments in PCI Express technology.
Our Technology Trends section, with its new look, continues to explore some of the most interesting recent developments in machine vision. This month’s articles have a review of many of the new technologies and products on display at VISION 2007, held in Stuttgart, Germany, including our cover story on a high-speed, area-array scanning system from LMI Technologies.
As you can see, our etonne-moi design keeps together our usual cast of editorial characters and content. We hope you continue to find this information useful as you plan your next machine-vision or image-processing system.
W. Conard Holton
Editor in Chief
[email protected]