How machine vision is enhancing automation safety and efficiency - The Robot Report

The article explains how machine vision technologies enhance automation safety and efficiency by enabling automated systems to interpret and understand their environments through image analysis. Machine vision involves extracting meaningful information from images—not limited to visible light but also including infrared, laser, X-ray, and ultrasound imaging. This capability allows robots and automated equipment to identify and manipulate objects in complex settings, such as picking specific parts from a bin with randomly arranged items, regardless of their orientation or distance from the camera. Advanced machine vision systems also support 3D scanning and modeling, which can be used for applications like 3D printing. The article distinguishes machine vision from computer vision, noting that machine vision typically refers to established, efficient mathematical methods for image analysis, while computer vision often involves more computationally intensive approaches, including AI and machine learning. However, the terms can overlap in practice. Key techniques in machine vision include digital image processing (enhancement, restoration, compression), photogrammetry (extracting measurements and 3D information from images),