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| 100% Perfection in Automobile Production - GigE cameras keep a close eye on quality in underbody inspection |
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Far more than 1,000 cars a day roll off the production line at the factory of a leading automobile manufacturer in Southern Germany. Each car features an individual combination of color, engine configuration, options and accessories. But they all have one thing in common – every single part is in the right place, from trim strips to expanding rivets. Machine vision plays a key role in achieving this high level of accuracy: At various stations of the production process, high-speed cameras check that all components are correctly in place and none of them are missing.
VMT Bildverarbeitungssysteme GmbH, based in Mannheim, Germany, is a robot guidance and quality control specialist in the automotive industry and for years has been providing production units with optical inspection systems. Current underbody inspection systems are equipped with up to 12 GigE cameras of the UI-6230HE-M type from IDS which reliably supply images for the 100% inspection. |
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| Accurate to the Dot - Innovative system reads Braille with USB camera |
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More than 1 Million people in the United States cannot read this text because they are blind. Every tenth of them can read Braille with their fingertips, though. This ability can be vital when it comes to medication packages. in-situ GmbH, a Munich based specialist for vision and sensor systems, has developed a system for measuring Braille dots on folding boxes. The DotScan inspection system allows reliably recognizing Braille dots and evaluating their tactile quality with high precision. Testing is non-contact using a state-of-the-art machine vision system and the UI-1540SE-M industrial camera from IDS's USB uEye series. |
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| Welcome to Real World - USB industrial camera adds color to 3D laser scans |
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When rooms or objects are to be reconstructed in 3D, laser scanners allow determining the precise distance of every visible point and producing a three-dimensional model. What is missing, however, is the color information. Conventional camera technology, in contrast, can capture brightness and color, but no depth information. The laser specialists Zoller+Fröhlich GmbH have succeeded in merging the two technologies: The Z+F IMAGER® 5006i mobile 3D laser scanner creates a spatial model as a three-dimensional point cloud, while a high-resolution 5-megapixel camera from IDS provides the color images for the texture. The scope of applications for this system is very wide: from the documentation of buildings, such as historical monuments or factory halls, to traffic accident analysis to forensic investigations. |
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| Comparing Apples and Oranges - Self-service scale with USB camera identifies fruits and vegetables |
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From apples to oranges, from avocado to zucchini — the fruit and vegetable departments of large supermarkets offer an overwhelming choice of fresh products. Consumers benefit from a broad selection, as most fruits are now available all year round. Another advantage of self-service supermarkets is that consumers can check and choose the fruit and vegetables themselves. Difficulties start when reaching the self-service scale: how to find the right button among dozens of different types of produce. The vast choice can quickly turn into an ordeal when it takes ages to locate the Papaya or Peppers button. To make shopping easier, METTLER TOLEDO, an international market leader in weight measurement technology, is offering an innovative solution: A compact, integrated uEye USB camera aids the self-service scales to automatically recognize the individual products. |
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| Filter Coffee was Yesterday - USB and GigE camera based system checks coffee capsules |
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Whether in offices or single households, the time of filter coffee is over. Pre-portioned coffee in capsules is becoming increasingly popular. The main reason is its ease of use: Choose the coffee type, insert the capsule in the machine, push the button – and enjoy a cup of freshly brewed coffee right away. Another advantage is the broad variety of flavors: Besides classical Espresso and Café Crema as well as flavored and decaf coffees, other hot beverages like tea, hot chocolate and even bouillon are also available as capsules.
To make the quick cup of coffee a real treat, however, highest quality assurance standards have to be met during production. To achieve this objective, the largest Italian coffee producer uses filling stations, machine vision systems and cameras from three German specialists. |
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| Sunny Prospects - High-resolution GigE cameras keep a keen eye on wafer quality |
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As energy prices continue to rise, the call for regenerative energy sources is growing louder. One of the fastest growing sectors among them is photovoltaics, in other words the generation of electric power from solar energy. Rapid technological progress has contributed to the fact that a widespread use of solar thermal systems is becoming increasingly affordable. Government funded projects, such as the German “100,000 Roofs� program, additionally stimulate the solar market. The key criterion in the use of solar modules is their efficiency factor. To achieve maximum power output, high demands are placed on the quality of each wafer produced for solar cells. The German company ECKELMANN AG meets this challenge with a newly developed wafer inspection system. High-resolution Gigabit Ethernet cameras from IDS and a powerful image processing application form the backbone of this system. |
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| Designed for Heavy Duty - Ruggedized USB cameras assure quality in production machinery |
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From chipping come chips! The process conditions within industrial manufacturing environments are generally harsh. High temperatures, dust or lubricants make life hard for the sensitive electronics essential for automating the production processes. The modern cameras used e.g. in robot control or optical quality inspection are particularly affected. Their connectors and the fine mechanics of their lenses react very sensitively to external influences. With the uEye RE series, the German machine vision specialist IDS offers a camera range that is designed for heavy duty and especially suited for use in industrial manufacturing environments. Numerous OEM companies, such as the Germany-based companies Kaiser Computersysteme and ISOTRONIC Bildverarbeitungssysteme GmbH, therefore rely on cameras from IDS. |
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| Maximum Precision under Harsh Conditions - Automated fine-grinding systems use innovative robot grippers and high-resolution cameras |
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Rotating at high speed the milling head approaches the steel block. The cutting edges of the tool tip seemingly effortlessly remove the upper layers of the steel blank. In a second work step a special drill hollows out the future engine block. The main work is done using tools with indexable inserts. These high-precision parts are manufactured, ground and coated in a complex process. The German company ROBOWORKER has specialised in automation solutions for producing these inserts. The high-resolution image data needed for controlling the robot grippers is delivered by cameras from the uEye® family by IDS. |
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| One for all - Universal camera driver allows easy machine vision integration |
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Many automation processes would be impossible without machine vision systems. Almost every machine has built-in cameras. They are needed, for example, to precisely position tools or grippers or to check the visual quality of components. As every application area places different requirements on a camera, one model will hardly be sufficient to cover the entire spectrum. Machine manufacturers and system integrators therefore often face a significant amount of engineering effort if the software needs to be adapted or reprogrammed every time a camera model is changed. That is why IDS, the German machine vision specialist, provides a “one size fits all� camera software for its complete range of cameras, whether they are USB or GigE based. So, whatever the model or interface – integrating, exchanging or upgrading the cameras saves precious time, money and nerves. |
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| It's All a Matter of Position - 5 Megapixel USB cameras support precision work in laser technology |
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Using light as a tool? This idea would have been hard to imagine only 20 years ago. Laser technology today continually opens up new application areas as it increases the efficiency, flexibility and environmental compatibility of many production processes. An example is the permanent, non-contact marking of components. Lasertechnologie Winter GmbH, the oldest laser technology company in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany, develops and produces machinery for laser-assisted precision processing and metrology. An important application area for their products is the laser engraving and ablation of automotive components. To ensure the perfectly accurate positioning of the markings, Lasertechnologie Winter has developed a special software that leverages the advantages of the uEye USB cameras from IDS in combination with elements from the HALCON image processing library. |
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| Tracking down the Perpetrator - High-Resolution USB cameras in Action at State Criminal Police Office in Baden Württemberg |
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There is no perfect crime, as every criminal leaves traces at the crime scene. These can be not only fingerprints, microparticles or DNA material, but also shoe prints. Particularly the latter are very difficult to avoid, e.g. for burglars. Therefore they often play an important part in solving property offenses, providing not only the key to difficult cases, but also substantive evidence. To ensure a successful and efficient search for clues, the crime scene incvestigators use state-of-the-art computer technology: Images of shoe tread and outsole prints are collected in a central database, where they can be immediately queried and matched to crime scene prints. The procedure of entering all the tread patterns(prints as well as reference samples) in the system is crucial in this connection. Image acquisition and processing must be very precise, fast and efficient. For this purpose the LKA Baden-Württemberg, which is the State Criminal Police Office in the German State of Baden-Württemberg, uses the high-resolution cameras of the uEye® series from IDS. |
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| A Keen Eye for the Game - Soccer Robots become Double World Champions with cameras from IDS |
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World Champion at last — at least in robot soccer! At the RoboCup 2007 held in Atlanta/USA from July 1 to 8, the NimbRo team of the University of Freiburg, Germany, won the soccer competitions in both the TeenSize and KidSize classes of the Humanoid League, taking two championship titles home to Germany. Featuring artificial eyes from the uEye® camera series from IDS, powerful machine vision laid the foundations for this success. |
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| Co-Pilots on Board - High-Resolution USB cameras help develop driver assistance systems |
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In 2006 more than 5,000 people in Germany were killed in traffic accidents. The major accident causes were unsafe lane changing, lane departure and following too closely. In view of these statistics the automotive industry is pushing to develop intelligent driver assistance systems, such as brake assist, distance control and lane keeping systems. These solutions are designed to assist the driver and improve road safety. With its CANape measurement, calibration and diagnostic tool, Vector Informatik supports the development of these systems and, based on a USB camera from IDS, offers a solution for verifying object detection algorithms. |
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| Cable testing - Efficient Check of Automotive Electronics with High-Resolution USB cameras |
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Product quality and its quick and cost-effective
control is today more important than ever in
order to survive in the global competition. This
applies especially to the automotive industry,
whose solutions have everyday life while faced
with an intense pressure of competition.
Manufacturing defects not only cause high
warranty and good-will repair costs, but
eventually also affect the manufacturer's image.
It is therefore essential to reliably detect
defects already during production. Modern
image processing systems in combination with
powerful cameras allow efficient inspection and
testing. A specialist in quality assurance systems for the automotive industry, Otte Elektronik GmbH relies on high-resolution cameras with USB interface. |
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| What to give for a gift? - High-Resolution USB camera add third dimension to photography |
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Birthdays, wedding anniversaries, Christmas—the search for the perfect gift can cause many a sleepless night. Vitro Laser GmbH has a special tip: A detailed, life-like portrait engraved inside a solid glass cube. No gift could be more personal! Images taken from portraits or other objects are digitized by a 3D scanner in a matter of seconds. They are then engraved into the glass in just a few minutes by using precision laser technology. The pin-sharp images required for digitizing are supplied by high-resolution cameras from IDS. |
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| Here’s looking at you, Kid! - Ultra compact USB camera documents examinations of the human eye |
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“Here's looking at you, kid� – who wouldn't remember the famous scene featuring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in the legendary film Casablanca. But nobody looks as deeply into eyes as an optometrist or ophthalmologist. This “penetrating� glance is possible with a slit lamp. The instrument allows a highly precise examination of the human eye. To document this examination and increase the possibility of detecting changes, Tomey GmbH has integrated a compact high-resolution color camera with USB connection from IDS. |
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| Tackling Back Pain - Digital USB camera replaces analogue Frame Grabber |
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Every second person over 30 years of age in Germany has back problems. Back pain has become so widespread that it is meanwhile the most common cause of inability to work and early retirement. And the patients are younger and younger: Children are diagnosed with postural deformity, tilted pelvis, scoliosis or kyphosis already at preschool age. This calls for urgent action. To help physicians find the exact cause of the pain and prescribe effective therapies, Diers International GmbH has specialized in the development of new examination methods: The three- or four-dimensional measurement of the spine with “Formetric.� This method takes a stereographic image of the back with a high-resolution USB camera from IDS. |
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| Eyes@Work - Intelligent Robot Vision System with ultra compact USB camera |
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Robots provide indispensable and tireless help in many areas today: From medical technology and industrial production to military operations, they perform highly precise, monotonous or dangerous tasks. To do difficult work, robot systems not only need flexible grippers and tools, however. They also need abilities similar to those of the human eye or brain. This is because modern robots have to recognize, distinguish and track objects, and derive the appropriate decisions from the data they gather. In the Eyes@Work robot vision system from AES motomation, an ultra compact, high-resolution USB camera from IDS acts as a high-tech eye and supplies the required image information to a powerful software. |
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| Excelent precision before printing - USB cameras ensure perfect print products |
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“In the beginning was the word�—but there is quite a long way to go from the word to the finished newspaper. After text processing, type matter and artwork, the exact positioning of the printing plate in the printing press is another essential step on this way. This process requires highest precision to ensure that the ink is accurately transferred to the paper. The printing plates are prepared for positioning by so-called register punches and bending machines. The worldwide largest supplier of this type of machinery, NELA Brüder Neumeister GmbH in Lahr, Germany, in future will employ state-of the-art industrial image processing technology with USB 2.0 cameras to process the printing plates economically and fully automatically in accordance with highest quality standards. |
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| A Brilliant Solution - Defect Detection in reflective surfaces with USB industrial cameras |
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Industrial image processing systems have become indispensable in many areas of modern quality assurance. Whether in end-of-line inspection or robot control, machine vision today ensures fast, reliable and objective quality control as well as in-process defect detection. With brilliant high-gloss surfaces, however, automated image processing has so far come up against its limits: Where standard test methods using direct light or transmitted light fail, it is up to the human eye to identify inclusions or deviations in color or texture. The VisionFlex image processing system uses a new process which now allows inspecting the quality of high-gloss and reflective surfaces with modern machine vision components. A high-resolution industrial camera with USB2.0 interface plays an important part in this context. |
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| Affordable custom shoes instead of blister plasters - Foot scanner measures feet in seconds |
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Approximately 150 different steps are required to craft a custom made shoe. A separate last must be formed for each shoe, for which the shoemaker takes measurements in 35 places. This elaborate procedure can now be handled by a foot scanner that not only speeds up the manufacturing process, but also makes it less expensive. |
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| What's Cooking? Interactive Inspiration for 'Chefs de la cuisine' - The kitchen table of the future |
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Do you still go to the supermarket yourself? Or does your refrigerator automatically order the groceries that are running out, via the Internet and all by itself? Does your bathroom mirror know the stock market quotes and is your percolator switched on by mobile phone as if by ghost hand? The visions that researchers are embracing for the fully automated home of the future actually run somewhere along these lines. Much planning, research and testing is already being dedicated to the envisaged conveniences—attending even to the tiresome issue of “what am I going to cook today.� The proactive kitchen table, the “Recipe Table,� once and for all solves the problem that invariably crops up each and every day. To accomplish this feat, it uses the possibilities of modern industrial image processing and the ultra-compact design of a USB 2.0 camera. |
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