Automate 2017
This biennial show held in Chicago, Illinois is North America's largest showcase of robot, machine vision, motion control and other automation technologies.
Edmund Optics
Edmund Optics, a manufacturer and distributor of precision optics and imaging products, will be displaying telecentric lenses. The company will demonstrate how lenses with large fields of view (small magnification) can be used to improve imaging performance by giving large depths of field and eliminating parallax.
On display will be Edmund Optics' new Techspec TitanTL telecentric lenses, which are designed for machine vision and metrology applications requiring large field of views. The lenses have field of view options up to 242mm; operate with sensor formats of 1/1.8-inch, 2/3-inch, 1-inch and 4/3-inch; and give less than 0.1° telecentricity.
EVT
EVT will exhibit its EyeVision 3D software for its EyeScan 3D sensors. The software supports the sensors for techniques such as laser triangulation, time-of-flight or fringe projection. A laser triangulation sensor will be shown that scans connectors for missing, bent or otherwise faulty pins.
The EyeVision software has multiple commands in its graphical user interface that carry out measurements and evaluations directly on the point cloud. With the drag-and-drop programming function, the user can create an inspection program entirely without programming skills. This is also true also for the use of the 3D commands.
EVT will also demonstrate EyeVision Thermo, a software version which can measure the temperature of an object. EyeVision Thermo is extremely useful for non-destructive quality inspection and has the same graphical user interface as other EyeVision software.
Gardasoft
Gardasoft will be showing a range of controllers that help automate industrial inspection using machine vision. This includes LED lighting controllers such as the new TR-HT high power and the TR100 board-level controllers, as well as the TR-CL series of single channel industrial lens controllers.
The TR-CL series provides very accurate and repeatable control of Optotune EL-10-30 and EL-16-40 focus-tunable lenses. Also on show will be Gardasoft’s versatile Triniti intelligent lighting platform, which can provide complete integration of lighting, camera, lens and image processing control through a single software interface.
Accurate, repeatable and precise control of LED illumination is an essential requirement for getting accurate, repeatable and precise measurements in both fixed and robot-based machine vision systems. Triniti’s sophisticated lighting control capabilities range from automatic compensation for changes in light intensity to the programmed triggering of single or multiple lights at differing intensities and durations – essential for making rapid multiple measurements, especially in robot applications.
The TR100 is a fully functional, board-level LED controller aimed at OEMs with high volume requirements. This controller provides the flexibility to be adapted by OEMs that wish to incorporate automated machine vision into their own systems.
The TR-HT series offer exceptionally high power LED lighting control for machine vision applications. With two independent output channels, each rated at 150W and each capable of driving 50A in pulsed mode and 5A in continuous mode, these latest models are ideally suited to driving high power LED area and LED bar lights.
JAI
JAI will display its latest camera offerings, including both its area scan and line scan models.
Three new models will be shown from the company’s Go Series of small and durable industrial cameras, which are ideal for robotics, UAVs, and many other applications. The recently announced GO-2400-USB offers 2.35 megapixels at 159fps over USB3 Vision, the GO-5101-PMCL delivers 5.1 megapixels at 35.6fps over a Camera Link interface, and the new GO-5100-USB provides 5.1 megapixels at 74fps over a USB3 Vision interface. All models feature low-noise Sony Pregius CMOS imagers for excellent image quality and dynamic range.
Line scan users can see a demonstration of JAI’s new Sweep SW-4000M-PMCL monochrome line scan camera, which offers 4K resolution, line rates up to 200kHz, and a sensor design with two user-selectable pixel well sizes. An 8K, 100kHz model and several prism-based colour models will also be displayed.
LMI Technologies
LMI Technologies will be demonstrating its new Gocator 3210 snapshot sensor. The sensor uses two-megapixel cameras for high-resolution 3D snapshot scans, a 120 x 85mm FOV for picking up multiple features at once, and on-board hardware acceleration to achieve 4Hz for full size scans. This structured light sensor delivers optimal performance in 3D inspection applications for 100 per cent quality control.
LMI partners 3DInfotech and Braas will also be at the booth, featuring an integrated solution using a UR3 robot-mounted Gocator 3210, along with a pick-and-place application using a UR5 robot-mounted Gocator 2340 laser line profile sensor.
Matrox Imaging
Matrox Imaging will demonstrate the latest version of its vision software, Matrox Imaging Library (MIL), paired with the Radient eV-CXP CoaXPress frame grabber to create and analyse high-quality 3D profiles of an industrial component.
Matrox will also demonstrate vision projects created using the recently released Matrox Design Assistant 5 flowchart-based vision software to inspect container integrity and marking. The projects will run on the new Matrox Iris GTR smart camera as well as the Matrox 4Sight GPm vision controller with two additional cameras.
The company will also exhibit: the Matrox SureDotOCR, a tool developed for MIL to read the often-distorted information applied by industrial inkjet printers; the new MIL CoPilot interactive environment, an evaluation and prototyping companion to the Matrox Imaging Library; and Matrox Design Assistant 5.
Methods Machine Tools
Methods Machine Tools will be demonstrating post-processing applications, including a Fanuc RoboDrill JobShop Cell with 3D vision for bin picking and a full deburring cell using Fanuc robots to deburr and wash parts. Methods will also be showing an automated laser marker that uses a Fanuc robot to position and laser mark parts, ideal for automating product identification. In addition, Methods Machine Tools’ national automation manager, John Lucier, will present a conference session at the Automate Fundamentals seminar titled: ‘A beginner’s guide to robot automation’.
Teledyne Dalsa
Teledyne Dalsa will feature its new Boa Spot ID advanced barcode reader and latest innovations in thermal imaging at Automate 2017.
The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of vision systems and sensors bundled with ready-to-deploy application software for the factory floor.
On display will be the Boa2 XA vision systems, designed for applications that require high image resolution and performance. Well suited for precision part measuring and defect detection, the systems can inspect large parts and large surface areas, reducing the number of sensors and overall cost of deployment.
The Boa Spot ID combines 1D/2D code reading with OCR and verification tools for a number of product identification and verification applications, including quality control, traceability and logistics management, and product validation. These vision sensors can decode 1D barcodes with bar widths and spacing down to 1.5 pixels, and 2D matrix codes with cell or dot sizes down to 2 pixels.
Teledyne Dalsa will also preview its new Calibir GX series of long wave infrared (LWIR) cameras. Compact and lightweight, the GX series delivers outstanding imaging and radiometric output, and adaptive contrast enhancements ideal for non-destructive, non-invasive automated inspection applications.
In addition, Jean Brunelle, sensor lead for infrared technology at Teledyne Dalsa, will present on LWIR imaging at the AIA’s technology conference, which takes place on 5 April from 15:00 to 17:00.
Xenics
Xenics will be exhibiting both its Serval-640-GigE Thermography camera and its SWIR InGaAs Bobcat-640 camera at the show.
The Serval-640-GigE Thermography is a rugged uncooled LWIR camera designed for thermography and thermal imaging in harsh industrial environments. It is equipped with an uncooled microbolometer (a-Si) detector with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels and has a pixel pitch of 17µm and a thermal sensitivity (NETD) of 55mK. The camera comes with radiometric calibrations that allow the user to measure temperatures in the ranges: -20°C to 120°C, 50°C to 400°C, 300°C to 1,200°C and 1,000°C to 2,000°C.
Also displayed will be the Bobcat-640 SWIR camera, a small industrial SWIR camera with InGaAs detector for machine vision and high temperature process control. The Bobcat-640 comes in a compact form factor of just 55 x 55 x 72mm for the Camera Link version and 55 x 55 x 82mm for a small GigE Vision interface. It offers an excellent low noise and low-dark-current performance and is suited to high speed imaging at full 640 x 512 resolution with frame rates up to 100Hz.
