First Vision System

Cognex’s first industrial OCR reader, DataMan.  Cognex
founders celebrated with a champagne toast when the first
DataMan prototype system successfully read its first character.
It took the system 90 seconds to read the number “6”.

The company produced its first vision system, DataMan, in 1982. DataMan was the world’s first industrial optical character recognition (OCR) system capable of reading, verifying, and assuring the quality of letters, numbers, and symbols marked directly on parts and components. Cognex’s first customer was a typewriter manufacturer, who purchased the system to inspect the keys on each typewriter to ensure that they were located in the correct position.

Cognex was one of the earliest companies in a market that was soon crowded with competitors, all intent on securing a position in the new field of machine vision.  In these early years, machine vision generated great excitement as part of the “robot revolution.”  People believed that machine vision would revolutionize not only manufacturing, but even areas as diverse as transportation and household chores.  The reality was not to be as easy…or come as soon….as predicted.

checker-200-series-product-guide-2008

What are Vision Systems?

Vision sensors are cameras with  and imaging electronics in the form of CCD or CMOS chips. They are used in quality control, inspection and design and manufacturing testing applications. Vision Systems often include interfaces for PLC programming and data output, and also have a variety of measurement and inspection functions.

When specifying vision systems, it is important to determine whether a monochrome or color sensor is needed.  Monochrome vision systems present the image in black and white, or grayscale.  Color sensing vision systems read the spectrum range using varying combinations of different discrete colors.  Multiple chip color is found on some vision systems.   It is a method of capturing color in which multiple chips are each dedicated to capturing part of the color image, such as one color, and the results are combined to generate the full color image.

Some important considerations when choosing vision systems include number of images the vision system can store and maximum inspection rate.  The number of images stored represents captured images that can be stored in the vision camera.  The maximum inspection rate is the maximum number of parts that can be inspected or evaluated.  This is usually given in units of inspections per second.  Other important parameters include sensitivity, frame rate, signal to noise ratio, horizontal resolution and shutter speed.

Inspection include pattern detection, edge finding, image direction, alignment, object measurement, object position, bar or matrix code, optical character recognition (OCR), and color mark or color recognition.

Other parameters to consider when specifying vision sensors include performance features, physical features, lens mounting, shutter control, sensor specifications, dimensions, and operating environment parameters.

Vision Systems Diagram

Vision Systems Diagram

COGNEX ANNOUNCES PANEL-MOUNT VIEWER FOR CHECKER INSPECTION SYSTEMS

Natick, MA, September 25, 2007—Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ - CGNX), the world’s leading supplier of image-based sensors, today announced SensorViewTM 350, a compact, industrial, panel-mount display for its Checker® 200 Series inspection sensors. SensorView 350 allows operators to view production images of the parts that Checker is inspecting without a PC. SensorView 350 features a simple interface for displaying images of passed or failed parts, along with status indicators and results statistics to more easily monitor the production process.

“Checker 200 Series inspection sensors provide a tremendous amount of useful process data compared to traditional sensors,“ said Justin Testa, Cognex Senior Vice President and Group Business Manager. “SensorView provides easy access to that information so factory floor operators can better understand how the manufacturing process is working.”

SensorView 350 achieves an IP65 rating and will be available in October.

COGNEX INTRODUCES NEXT GENERATION INSPECTION SENSORS

Checker 200 simplifies part inspection

Natick, MA, May 15, 2007—Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ - CGNX), the world’s leading supplier of machine vision systems, today announced the next-generation of its award-winning Checker inspection sensors. The new Checker 200 series models are just as simple to set up as the Checker 101, but are much more capable and small enough to fit almost anywhere.

“Checker 101 set the standard for inspection sensors and eliminated the hassles associated with wiring and precisely mounting multiple photoelectric sensors,” said Justin Testa, Cognex Senior Vice President and Group Business Manager. “The Checker 200 series is small, smart, simple and powerful enough to solve even more challenging sensing applications, and delivers extremely reliable inspection results. They are ideal for food, beverage, and consumer product package inspection and automotive and electronics part inspection.”

The Checker 200 series inspection sensors offer built-in lighting, variable working distance, and high-speed inspection capability at rates faster than 6000 parts per minute. Even on the fastest production lines, Checker can inspect multiple part features and deliver reliable, precisely timed, pass/fail results.

Unlike conventional photoelectric sensors, Checker:

* Detects parts by finding an actual feature such as a product graphic
* Checks features that other sensors cannot such as a code printed on a label
* Inspects multiple part features simultaneously such as candies in a blister pack
* Overcomes varying part positions on the line without requiring precise part handling

All Checker 200 series inspection sensors have a rugged IP67 housing and quick disconnect cables, as well as encoder-based part tracking, I/O and high-speed USB connectivity. The Checker 200 series includes the Checker 201 which is ideal for part finding and inspection, and the Checker 202 which includes all the features of the 201, plus ladder logic for custom configurations.

Checker 200 series inspection sensors will be available May 15th.

COGNEX INTRODUCES WORLD’S FASTEST VISION SYSTEMS

In-Sight 5600 accelerates vision-sensor performance with unmatched speed and resolution

Natick, MA, April 10, 2007—Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ - CGNX), the world’s leading supplier of machine vision sensors and systems, today announced In-Sight® 5600, the world’s fastest vision sensor. In-Sight 5600 vision systems offer the same rugged design and outstanding performance as the In-Sight 5400 series, but with twice the processing speed and memory to perform inspections at line rates no other vision systems can match.

“Since their introduction, In-Sight 5000 series vision sensors have helped many manufacturers achieve significant improvements in productivity, quality and cost reduction,” said Kris Nelson, Cognex Senior Vice President, Factory Automation. “Now, with the In-Sight 5600, customers can achieve similar gains on their fastest production lines.”

The In-Sight 5600 product line includes standard (640×480) resolution and two-megapixel (1600×1200) models that deliver reliable performance in high-speed applications. All In-Sight vision sensors have an IP67 (NEMA 4) rating to withstand dust and wash down without an accessory enclosure, and include a powerful library of advanced vision software for inspection, identification, measurement, and alignment tasks.

Cognex is also pleased to announce the latest In-Sight Explorer software release 3.4 with enhanced optical character reading and verification tools, onboard image storage for reviewing inspection results without a PC, plus PROFINET support for easy communication to Siemens PLCs and other factory automation devices. PatMax®, the industry’s performance standard for feature and object location, is available as an option.

In-Sight 5600 vision systems and In-Sight Explorer 3.4 are available now.

COGNEX INTRODUCES ENTRY-LEVEL COLOR VISION SYSTEMS

DVT 535C offers complete set of easy to use color tools

Natick, MA, February 14, 2007—Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ - CGNX), the world’s leading supplier of machine vision systems, today announced the DVT® 535C, the most capable and easy to use color vision system in it’s class. With a full suite of vision tools, the DVT 535C sets a new cost/performance standard for entry-level color vision systems.

“Unlike most low-cost color vision systems, the DVT 535C is not limited to a single machine vision function such as color sorting, but can handle a much broader range of applications with a compete set of color tools for sorting, color match and defect detection,” said Kris Nelson, Cognex Senior Vice President, Vision Systems.

The DVT 535C is the lowest cost model in the DVT color vision system family that includes a choice of high-speed and high-resolution products to meet a range of performance requirements. Like all DVT vision systems, the 535C operates with easy-to-use Intellect™ software that facilitates setup, integration, and maintenance, and is backward compatible with FrameWork.

Cognex is also pleased to announce the latest Intellect software release 1.4 with many enhancements including a new Flexible Flaw Detection (FFD) tool that provides reliable inspection results despite random process variations. FFD reduces inspection errors when the appearance of the part is not consistent due to registration errors, lens and perspective distortions, and normal part-to-part variations.

The DVT 535C vision systems and Intellect 1.4 are available now.

Checker 232:

Checker 232 is a simple, powerful, vision sensor from Cognex that inspects small features over a wide area. The 232 is ideal for use over longer working distances when the vision sensor must be mounted far from the part. Providing reliable inspection results on the fastest production lines, Checker detects and inspects up to 1,500 parts per minute. When you can’t do it with photo sensors—use Checker!

Welcome,

This is the first post for our new Vision Blog. The idea is to enpower the reader with knowledge on all things Vision. The main source of information will come in the form of application notes from past experiences with Vision Sensors and some cases higher end Vision Systems.

Please feel free to sign up to our website or browse through to other areas of interest.

Regards,

The Vision Guy!

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