In today's highly competitive global manufacturing environment, improving efficiency, ensuring
quality, and reducing costs have become the lifeline for the survival and development of enterprises.
Traditional industrial automation mainly relies on programmed mechanical operations, the lack of perception
and judgment, it is difficult to cope with the complex and changing production environment. The rise of
vision technology, as for the automation system equipped with the “wisdom of the eye”, is unprecedented
depth and breadth, reshaping the future of industrial production. In this paper, we will discuss how vision
technology empowers industrial automation, and look forward to its development trend.
First, what is industrial vision technology?
Industrial vision technology, in short, is the use of optics, sensors, computers and software algorithms,
simulating and exceeding the human visual function, to achieve the identification, measurement, positioning
and detection of objects in industrial scenes of the technology system. A typical industrial vision system usually
includes the following core parts:
Image acquisition unit: mainly includes industrial cameras, lenses and light sources. They are like the “eyes”
of the system, responsible for capturing clear, stable, high-quality images.
Image processing unit: This is the “brain” of the system, through the built-in complex algorithms to analyze
the collected images, to extract key information, such as contours, colors, dimensions, defects and so on.
Actuator: According to the processing results, the system will issue commands to control the robotic arm,
sorting devices, alarms, etc. to perform the corresponding actions to complete the task, such as sorting
defective products, guiding the robot to grasp and so on.
Second, the core application of vision technology in industrial
automation scenarios
The introduction of vision technology, industrial automation from the “blind operation” upgraded to “accurate
perception and intelligent decision-making”, its application has penetrated into all aspects of production.
High-precision quality inspection and quality control
This is the most classic and extensive application of vision technology. In the high-speed production line, human
eye inspection is easy to fatigue, subjective and inefficient. Vision system can work 7x24 hours uninterruptedly to
detect surface scratches, size deviation, assembly errors, labeling errors and omissions of products with extremely
high speed and precision. Whether it is a tiny electronic component or a huge car body, vision inspection can ensure
the consistency and reliability of the products leaving the factory and significantly reduce the quality risk.
Intelligent guidance and precise positioning
In robotic applications, vision systems play the role of “guide”. Traditional “blind gripping” robots require the
workpiece to be precisely fixed in the same position. A robot equipped with a vision system can dynamically recognize
the cluttered workpieces, calculate their precise 3D coordinates and attitude in real time, and guide the robotic arm to
accurately grasp and place them. This greatly enhances the flexibility of the production line and adapts to the modern
manufacturing mode of small batch and multiple varieties.
Accurate Measurement and Dimensional Verification
In the field of precision manufacturing, the measurement of part dimensions is required to reach the micron level. The
vision measurement system can quickly complete the simultaneous measurement of multiple dimensions in a non-contact
way, which is not only far more efficient than traditional calipers and CMMs, but also realizes 100% on-line full inspection,
avoiding the risk of omission in sampling inspection.
Identification and Traceability Management
By reading barcode, QR code, OCR (Optical Character Recognition), etc., the vision system can quickly obtain the
information of product batch, model, production date, etc., and bind it with the production data to realize the full life
cycle traceability from raw materials to finished products. This is crucial for quality traceability and supply chain
management in food, pharmaceutical, automotive and other industries.
Third, the core value and advantages brought by visual technology
Enterprises that introduce vision technology not only get a technological upgrade, but also a leap in overall
competitiveness.
Extreme efficiency: The detection and judgment speed of machine vision can be up to milliseconds, much faster than
manual labor, which significantly improves the production line tempo and capacity.
Absolute reliability: Eliminate human subjective factors and fatigue brought about by misjudgment, omission, to
ensure that the inspection results are objective, consistent and repeatable.
Significant cost reduction: In the long run, one-time investment can replace multiple quality inspection positions,
reducing labor costs; at the same time, through early detection of defects, avoiding the waste of subsequent
processes, saving a lot of costs.
Data-driven decision-making: the massive inspection data generated by the vision system can be analyzed to reveal
process bottlenecks, equipment anomalies and other deep-seated problems, providing data support for optimizing
the production process and realizing predictive maintenance.
Fourth, future trends: deep integration of AI and 5G, opening unlimited
possibilities
The future of vision technology will be an era of deeper integration with cutting-edge technologies.
AI and Deep Learning: Traditional vision algorithms face challenges when dealing with complex and variable defects
(e.g. texture defects, irregular defects). Deep learning technology, by imitating the neural network of the human brain,
is able to independently learn features from a large number of samples, which greatly improves the recognition accuracy
and generalization ability in complex scenes, and makes the visual system more “intelligent”.
Popularization of 3D vision: As the cost drops and the application matures, 3D vision can provide richer three-dimensional
spatial information, which shows great potential in the fields of robot guidance, precision measurement, and volume
measurement of logistics packages.
Combination of 5G and Edge Computing: The high speed rate and low latency characteristics of 5G network make it possible
to put the computational task part of the vision system in the cloud, realizing more complex algorithms and centralized
management. Edge computing, on the other hand, is responsible for local real-time response, and the combination of the
two realizes the optimal allocation of arithmetic power.
Conclusion
Vision technology is no longer an optional accessory in industrial automation, but the core engine that drives the
transformation of manufacturing to intelligence, digitalization, and flexibilization. It gives machines the ability to perceive
and understand the world, thus liberating manpower, improving quality, and reshaping the boundaries of efficiency. With
the continuous empowerment of artificial intelligence, 5G and other technologies, the potential of vision technology will
be released at a deeper level, and continue to lead the wave of “Industry 4.0” and “Intelligent Manufacturing”, creating
a more accurate, efficient and intelligent future for the global manufacturing industry.