Intro To Vision Sensors EN
Intro To Vision Sensors EN
Intro To Vision Sensors EN
Vision tools......................................................... 8
Conclusion.......................................................... 9
Of the billions of products manufactured and inspected each day, few could be made without some level of
industrial automation. Modern manufacturing demands high quality control standards. Manual inspection is
slow, prone to error, and impeded by product size, space constraints, lighting conditions, and fast production
line speeds. Automated inspection, by contrast, maximizes throughput, increases quality, and lowers
manufacturing costs.
Most manufacturers use automated machinery like sensors because they are well-suited for repetitive
inspection tasks. Sensors are faster, more objective, and work continuously. They can inspect hundreds, or even
thousands, of parts per minute, providing more consistent and reliable inspection results.
But all sensors are not created equal. Low-cost photoelectric sensors can perform only a limited number of
simple tasks, such as position verification and basic counting. They cannot distinguish between patterns or
colors. And with their rigid mounting setup, they cannot handle misalignment or variability common in most
work cells. Vision sensors offer greater flexibility, perform multiple inspection types within a single image, and
generate additional rich data for quality and process improvement.
This guide provides an introduction to vision sensors and their common applications in factory automation. It
is designed to help manufacturers determine whether vision sensors are right for them, and if so, to help them
identify their needs.
Figure 1: Sensors fall into multiple categories and can act complementarily.
In some cases, different types of sensors act as complementary technologies. Photoelectric sensors may be
used in conjunction with vision sensors to communicate whether a part is on its way in order to trigger the
camera in a machine vision system. Consider a fill-level inspection system at a brewery. Each bottle passes
through an inspection sensor, which triggers a vision system to flash a strobe light and take a picture of the
bottle. After acquiring the image and storing it in memory, vision software processes and analyzes it and issues
a pass/fail response based on the fill level. If the system detects an improperly-filled bottle—a fail—it signals a
diverter to reject the bottle. An operator can view rejected bottles and ongoing process statistics on a display.
OR
PASS FAIL
Figure 3. Vision sensors combine the power of a machine vision system with the simplicity and affordability of an industrial sensor,
easily solving simple inspections and communicating results.
VISION TOOLS
Vision tools are what ultimately set machine vision sensors apart from other sensors. Vision technology plays a
very important role for even the most basic presence/absence inspections. Typical vision tools include pattern,
pixel count, brightness, contrast, and edge tools. Notably, a vision sensor can inspect multiple targets within a
single image, as well as perform multiple inspection types relying on different tools.
Pattern Tool: Used to reference an inspection tool, as well as to perform inspection and counting.
Performs best on patterns with sharp contrast and on targets small enough to allow variability and
asymmetry in the FOV.
Pattern tool confirms that the gasket is present and installed in the correct area.
Brightness Tool: Returns the average pixel brightness for a region of interest. Illumination must be
stable and predictable.
Brightness tool confirms the presence of all 10 capsules by showing the greatest delta between pass/fail areas.
Edge tool: Inspects for a high contrast “edge” along a specific path. Can set thresholds
to eliminate noise.
Multiple edge tools measure pixels to detect a clean edge on a drill burr.
Pixel count tool: Returns the total number of pixels between a set range. This works well for large
FOV applications.
Pixel count tool confirms the presence of 13 separate hole punches within one target by determining pixel value.
Color Pixel Count: Returns a number of pixels within a specified region of interest that meet trained
colors. This works best if illumination is applied evenly, since hotspots can cause problems.
Color pixel count tool confirms the integrity of packaging by identifying pixel values of colors trained in the region of interest.
Integrated Lighting
Factory environments and space constraints can make it difficult to achieve proper lighting conditions. This
can be problematic for vision sensors, which rely on even, diffuse lighting to fixture parts and perform robust
inspections with brightness, contrast, and pixel count tools. Vision sensors typically come with integrated lighting
and can be connected to additional external lighting if required. Selecting a vision sensor with built-in lighting
saves money on external illumination and mounting fixtures.
Figure 5. The In-Sight 2000 series offers a modular design with field changeable lights,
lenses, filters, and covers. An integrated LED ring light produces even, diffuse illumination
across the entire image, minimizing the need for costly external lighting.
www.cognex.com/machine-vision
3D VISION
Cognex In-Sight laser profilers and 3D vision systems provide ultimate
ease of use, power and flexibility to achieve reliable and accurate
measurement results for the most challenging 3D applications.
www.cognex.com/3D-vision-systems
VISION SOFTWARE
Cognex vision software provides industry leading vision technologies,
from traditional machine vision to deep learning-based image analysis,
to meet any development needs.
www.cognex.com/vision-software
BARCODE READERS
Cognex industrial barcode readers and mobile terminals with patented
algorithms provide the highest read rates for 1D, 2D and DPM codes
regardless of the barcode symbology, size, quality, printing method or surface.
www.cognex.com/BarcodeReaders
Companies around the world rely on Cognex vision and barcode reading
solutions to optimize quality, drive down costs and control traceability.