Focus on Vision: Analyzing Wildfire Smoke Plumes, Identifying Defects in Intricate Parts | October 1, 2025

In this episode of Vision Systems Design's Focus on Vision, Justine Murphy covers the following news stories in machine vision and imaging:

• Researchers from the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN, USA) developed a five-camera embedded vision system that is mounted on aerial drones and can detect, track, and analyze wildfire smoke plumes. 
• ABB Robotics (Oerlikon, Switzerland) announced plans to integrate deep learning vision software from LandingAI (Mountain View, CA, USA) into its own software suite. 
• A team at Nanjing University of Science and Technology (Nanjing, China) designed an automated inspection system that can better detect and identify defects in intricate thin-walled 3D parts for industries such as aerospace and medical. 

In this episode of Focus On Vision: 0:00 Intro 0:19 Scalable Aerial Vision System Could Enhance Environmental Monitoring and Hazard Response University of Minnesota researchers create a scalable drone swarm system utilizes high-resolution cameras and neural networks to analyze smoke plume dynamics. (Full story: https://www.vision-systems.com/55316755) 1:18 Partnership to Accelerate AI-Enabled Robotics Applications ABB Robotics is incorporating computer vision software from LandingAI into its RobotStudio suite, aiming to reduce application deployment time across numerous industries. (Full story: https://www.vision-systems.com/55317623) 2:37 Automated Inspection System Better Detects and Identifies Defects A team at Nanjing University of Science and Technology has designed an automated inspection system that can better detect and identify defects. Known as keyhole pores, these flaws have traditionally been inspected via x-ray or other standard imaging techniques. But the team says these methods are not very well suited for small, thin, intricate parts. 3:55 Outro #machinevision #visionsystems #robotics #automation #inspection #environmentalmonitoring #ai #drone