In some instances, optical inspection can refer to human visual inspection of an object, but these days it more likely refers to Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) conducted by a machine vision system or specialized AOI system. These systems can acquire millions of data points in a fraction of a second, which are then used for visual inspection and precision measurement.
A tremendous variety of applications in industrial settings can benefit from optical inspection, which performs most of the visual checks previously done by manual operators. And, with machine vision, the process is much quicker and more accurate.