Do You Know The Principles And Components Of Machine Vision System?

Today, let’s learn something about the principles and components of a machine vision system.

Machine vision is one of the most important frontier branches in the field of artificial intelligence and a critical component of smart manufacturing equipment. In factories, its role is simple: it replaces the human eye in performing tasks.

A standard machine vision system primarily consists of the following three units:

• Image Acquisition Unit (Industrial Cameras And Industrial Lens)

This unit captures images of objects using a camera paired with a lens. The precision of object recognition is adjusted by configuring the camera’s pixel resolution, while the size of the field of view is controlled by adjusting the lens’s focal length. Flexible configurations enable capturing things from objects as small as a strand of cell to as large as a car, ensuring ease of subsequent image processing.

• Lighting System

It' s important to note that images captured by a camera during the day and night can vary significantly, increasing the complexity of software processing. To ensure stable lighting conditions within the field of view, a dedicated lighting system is essential. Additionally, identifying specific features often requires specialized lighting angles, shapes, or colors, combined with background characteristics, to enhance clarity. "Proper lighting accounts for half the success of a vision project."

For example, the Coaxial Lights could eliminate shadows for flat, reflective surfaces (e.g., PCB solder joints). Structured Lights could project grids/laser lines for 3D surface profiling (e.g., weld seam inspection).

• Image Processing Unit

This unit acts as the "brain" of the vision system, where all image processing algorithms are executed. Market terms for this component vary, including "IPC," "vision controller," or "control board," but its core function remains the same: running image processing software. Once image analysis is complete, results are transmitted to external devices via I/O ports or communication interfaces.

Mentioned above, these units form a complete machine vision system. A well-designed machine vision system doesn’t just replicate human vision—it surpasses it in speed, precision, and consistency.