3 Reasons to start using 3D Vision Systems NOW!

Everything looks better in 3D – at the movies, and in industry as well! In industry, 3D machine vision systems offer guidance, identification, gauging, and inspection, not only seeing their environment through multiple cameras and laser displacement sensors but also calculating where an object is located, as well as its orientation.

In this blog, let’s explore what exactly these 3D machine vision systems bring to the table…

1. Accuracy

In industry, there is a saying that ‘100% human inspection catches 80% of the errors’, which is, well, 100% true. Manual inspections are visually and cognitively taxing for workers because of their repetitive nature and can yield errors in inspection. Imagine a human inspector viewing thousands of wafer-thin potato chips to see if they are all cooked perfectly, or staring intently at a high-speed production line to spot a scratch or crack.

Utilising machine vision assures bad products are weeded out, maintaining the quality standards your company is known for. An example would be the Cognex machine vision systems that not only generate 3D data, but allow factory engineers to quickly, accurately, and cost-effectively solve a range of inspection challenges on an automated production line.

2. Versatility

What can you do with a 3D machine vision system? It can measure:

• Depth and height, which tells you how far an object is from, say, an end effector or how tall it is in comparison to the object near it
• Orientation, which tells you in real-time the angle at which the object is so it can be picked up or turned successfully
• Creation of 3D imagery, which makes it accurate for inspections of small, detailed parts as well as highly reflective or dark features. Using the 3D-A5000 Series from Cognex for instance allows you to capture high-resolution 3D point cloud images to solve assembly verification and robotic guidance applications.

3. Speed

In business, speed is synonymous with success. A company needs to constantly and continuously improve its products to achieve success in a competitive marketplace. And one of the smartest ways to do that is by having a fast, dependable, and efficient manufacturing process. It allows a business to bring its ideas into the market faster and reduces operating costs.

Deloitte, in its report on the 2022 manufacturing industry outlook, says “manufacturers looking to capture growth and protect long-term profitability should embrace digital capabilities from corporate functions to the factory floor”, smart factories in short. In fact, in 2022, 45% of manufacturing executives surveyed expect further increases in operational efficiency from investments in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) that connect machines and automate processes. And you don’t want to be left behind on that front.

The right 3D machine vision systems deliver the power of an FPGA-accelerated, 8-core Intel processor.

Why 3D over 2D?

2D machine vision systems have been deployed for a few decades now and are great tools for many applications, but 3D offers certain advantages:

• Rounded images in 3D: 2D on the other hand gives only flat images, which means you can’t inspect or measure objects as they actually are. You would have to deploy inspection software to estimate what an object may look like from a single image, which could lead to errors in applications.
• 3D is independent of the environment: 2D is very dependent on light, so changes in ambient conditions or artificial lighting can have an adverse impact on the accuracy of images appearing in the 2D plane.
• 3D imaging has more detail: 2D images lack the detail that 3D images have, which again, may result in errors.

As a result, 3D machine vision is applied to various areas where 2D may fall short, such as space management, detection of surface or assembly defects, object scanning and digitisation, and so on.

3D machine vision systems find use in a gamut of industries from automotive, pharmacy, electronics and semiconductor, consumer electronics, food, and beverage. If you’d like to discuss how 3D machine vision systems can help your industry, do give us a call at Blue Star Engineering & Electronics Ltd. We’ve got machines that suit varying industry needs.