• Neural nets inspect welding tip probes

    FEBRUARY 10, 2009--Neural-net technology has progressed to a point where it can handle decisions in which a human would use subjectivity.
    Feb. 10, 2009
    2 min read

    FEBRUARY 10, 2009--Neural-net technology has progressed to a point where it can handle decisions in which a human would use subjectivity. Moreover, modern neural technology builds in mechanisms that make it easier to see the role specific inputs play in generating a given output. An example of such advances comes from Neural ID (San Mateo, CA, USA; www.neuralid.com).

    The firm has devised what's called Cure, for Concurrent Universal Recognition Engine. The technology uses neural-network concepts to recognize patterns. In contrast to earlier methods, the Cure technique builds-in ways of deducing how specific inputs lead to specific outputs. According to Neural ID, Cure has proven to be better than ordinary machine-vision methods at recognizing "good" and "bad" cases in conditions characterized by a lot of variability.

    One of the first applications of the technique is in recognizing whether or not welding electrode tips that have been through a dressing process are acceptable for use. Conventional machine-vision processes have proven unable to manage the subjective nature of the good/bad tip decision and also struggle with scene variations caused by factors such as debris in the weld cell and different lighting conditions. A Cure-based Weld Tip System, distributed by Orbitform Group (Jackson, MI, USA; www.orbitform.com), recently came on the market and is now deployed in several spot-welding applications. For more information, go to: http://machinedesign.com/ContentItem/73360/MachineVisionIndustryFocusNewWaytoLookatMachineVision.aspx

    Sign up for Vision Systems Design Newsletters
    Get the latest news and updates.

    Voice Your Opinion!

    To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Vision Systems Design, create an account today!