The demand for high-quality, high-efficiency, and personalized manufacturing is rising in the Industry 4.0 era, highlighting the importance of automation vision inspection.
Machine vision, part of artificial intelligence (AI), allows 100% control over production processes — and at top speeds. By using machine learning algorithms for image recognition, it can oversee all aspects of production, improving accuracy, efficiency, and quality control. It eliminates the subjective errors and fatigue effects that manual inspection may bring, keeping processes consistent and continuous.
Industries like pharmaceuticals and food processing rely on visual inspection systems to maintain product consistency and meet safety standards. Here’s a look at how advanced automated vision detection systems are shaping the manufacturing industry and their key advantages for your facility.
Application of Traditional Inspection Technology
Traditional automatic inspection technology typically uses mechanical, optoelectronic, acoustic, and electromagnetic principles in industrial automation. It involves designing inspection equipment and methods to automatically control and monitor product quality. These technologies usually include sensors, proximity switches, photoelectric couplers, and various specialized detection instruments such as infrared scanners and ultrasonic thickness gauges.
They perform basic tasks on production lines, such as:
- Counting
- Positioning
- Dimension measurement
- Defect identification
The advantages of traditional automatic inspection lie in mature technology, relatively low implementation costs, and good applicability to simple and well-defined inspection standards.
However, these technologies often require customized solutions for each type of product or characteristic, lack flexibility, and perform limitedly in complex defect recognition and high-precision requirements. With the manufacturing shift toward intelligence, traditional automatic inspection technology is gradually being supplemented or replaced by more advanced automation vision inspection and artificial intelligence technologies.
Turning Point Brought by the AI Development Boom
The rise of AI technologies like OpenAI has significantly impacted life and production structures, addressing the above shortcomings effectively. The convergence of various cutting-edge AI technologies has catalyzed a turning point for traditional automatic inspection. It is transforming it into ultra-high-speed, ultra-high-precision, and ultra-low-energy intelligent detection systems. It is heralding a new era of integration of AI, advanced manufacturing, and future technology:
Enhancing Machine Learning
NVIDIA’s recent launches of GPU computing chips have greatly enhanced machine learning and high-performance computing optimization. This marks a significant leap forward in hardware and provides strong computing power support for data-intelligent industries across various sectors — enabling the smooth operation of complex system equipment independently.
Lowering Production Costs
Additionally, Tesla’s smart manufacturing plant has successfully halved production costs by integrating advanced AI technology into its production processes. This allows Tesla to seize a strong market share in the global electric car market amidst price competition, demonstrating the tremendous potential of AI in enhancing industrial efficiency.
Optimizing Inspection Algorithms
Further, while quantum computing, as a frontier technology, has not yet been fully commercialized, it has made significant breakthroughs in optimizing complex inspection algorithms and accelerating data analysis. It is essential for revolutionary imagination in industrial manufacturing systems.
How AI+RGBD+Traditional Inspection Technologies Achieve Efficient Empowerment
Integrating AI, RGBD technology, and detection empowers modern manufacturing in unprecedented ways. The collaboration among these technologies enhances detection accuracy and efficiency and makes the entire process more flexible and adaptive. They together form the automation visual inspection system:
- AI: AI, especially deep learning algorithms, provides the automation vision inspection system with powerful image understanding and analysis capabilities. It can identify complex and minute defects — achieving highly accurate quality control.
- RGBD: RGBD technology combines color images and depth information to enhance automated systems with three-dimensional visual capabilities. This helps improve object recognition and measurement accuracy. It recognizes object colors and textures while precisely locating and measuring object dimensions and spatial relationships — greatly enriching the dimensions of detection.
- Traditional automatic inspection technologies: When AI and RGBD technologies work together with traditional automatic inspection technologies, such as sensor networks and robotic arms, they form a highly intelligent detection system, namely the automation vision inspection system. The robotic arm precisely positions according to AI analysis results, while sensors provide real-time environmental feedback.
This cross-technology integration enables production lines to quickly adapt to product changes, realize customized inspection, and reduce the need for manual intervention. It also promotes cost reduction and quality improvement in production, laying a solid foundation for the intelligent upgrading of manufacturing.
What Is Automated Inspection? Upgrading From Visual to Intelligent Vision
Automation vision inspection is an intelligent inspection method based on machine vision technology. It borrows and mimics human visual perception mechanisms, using advanced optoelectronic technology and computer image processing algorithms to capture, analyze, and interpret images of target objects. This allows for precisely identifying characteristics like object position, shape, color, size, and defects.
Especially with the powerful empowerment of AI technologies like deep learning and neural networks, automation visual inspection systems can accurately recognize diverse features in complex industrial environments. Its operation principle is as follows:
- Projection onto RGBD camera: The image of the inspected object is projected clearly onto an RGBD camera through carefully designed light source illumination and lens imaging.
- Converting light signals into digital images: The RGBD camera converts the received light signals into digital image signals, which are then transmitted to the computer via an image acquisition card.
- In-depth analysis: The computer’s image processing software utilizes various image processing algorithms, such as edge detection, template matching, feature extraction, and deep learning models, to perform in-depth analysis and understanding of the images.
- Determining appropriate response measures: Theth system judges the identified image features based on pre-set detection standards and rules — determining the appropriate response measures, such as issuing an alarm signal, rejecting non-compliant products, or adjusting production line parameters to optimize the process.
During this process, the application of AI technology enables the vision inspection system to continuously improve its accuracy and efficiency through self-learning and optimization. For example, according to experimental data, the accuracy of vision inspection systems using deep learning algorithms has increased by more than 30% in product defect detection.
Advantages of Automation Vision Inspection
The manufacturing industry is taking advantage of automation vision inspection for several reasons:
High Accuracy
With advanced image processing technology and AI algorithms, automation vision inspection systems can accurately identify tiny details and complex structures — achieving accuracy that surpasses even human eye recognition.
Extremely High Efficiency
Compared to manual inspection, automation vision inspection can operate continuously 24/7, with fast processing speed and wide coverage, greatly improving detection efficiency. After investing in smart factory projects like automation vision, organizations reported 12% increases in production, factory use, and labor productivity.
Strong Flexibility
Automation vision inspection systems demonstrate high flexibility in adapting to both the inspection environment and updating inspection content, easily coping with various change requirements in the production process.
Self-Learning Ability
Combined with AI technologies such as deep learning, automation vision inspection systems have the ability to self-learn and optimize. Over time, their detection performance continuously improves, better addressing complex and novel detection challenges.
One-Stop Vision Platform Solves AI+RGBD Hardware Allocation Problem
For general manufacturing companies, effectively and smoothly integrating AI, RGBD, and proprietary automatic inspection technologies is a headache, involving issues such as professionalism and scene adaptation.
Currently, with the deep integration and development of AI technology, cloud computing, big data, and RGBD hardware technology, a comprehensive vision technology platform is becoming the mainstream trend. These platforms combine AI algorithms, RGBD sensor technology, and automation control strategies to offer users a complete solution from hardware setup to software algorithms. This effectively solves the integration problems of AI and RGBD technologies in automation vision inspection applications.
Take the comprehensive vision technology platform provided by Orbbec as an example. This platform:
- Integrates multiple compatible hardware options.
- Ensures seamless integration between RGBD cameras, computing units, and traditional automation equipment.
- Simplifies the complex hardware allocation process.
Meanwhile, the platform’s built-in AI model library and training tools enable users to customize high-precision detection algorithms easily — without starting from scratch
Explore the Possibilities of Automated Vision Solutions
Automation vision technology is revolutionizing manufacturing processes. The industry is evolving to more high-quality, high-efficiency, and personalized processes to drive growth. Orbbec can help you stay ahead of the curve with automation vision solutions. Since 2013, we have been dedicated to democratizing visual inspection technologies, providing high-quality products and solutions to improve our client’s processes.
From design to manufacturing, we’ll support you throughout the product life cycle. We also offer custom and embedded vision solutions through ODM and OEM services. Our user-friendly vision solutions are ready to integrate into your operation. Contact us today to learn more about our products or schedule a consultation.
