Sales of machine vision systems and components in North America fell 4.6% year over year to $2.07 billion through September, according to figures published by the AIA.
Falling 2% year over year to $599.9 million were machine vision systems, a category that includes smart cameras and application specific machine vision systems. Machine vision components, including cameras, lighting, optics, imaging boards, and software, fell 4% to $92.1 million as well. Total machine vision financial transactions fell 2% to $694.1 million.
Despite this, room for optimism exists, as results from an AIA survey conducted in mid-October show that 53% of respondents believe that in the next six months machine vision component market sales in total will increase, while 38% believe sales will remain flat, and for machine vision systems, 70% expect flat performance, but 24% think sales will increase.
“Despite the overall market performance, vision and imaging technology is a key player in a variety of automation solutions and remains integral to the industry,” said Jeff Burnstein, president of the Association for Advancing Automation. “Growing global trends like autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, and autonomous mobile robots depend on strong vision and imaging systems, bolstering this industry.”
