3-D Vision Improves Performance of Challenging Inspection Applications
IN CONTRAST TO TRADITIONAL MACHINE VISION SYSTEMS THAT PROVIDE INFORMATION IN TWO DIMENSIONS, 3-D PROVIDES MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MANUFACTURING PROCESSES.
Manufacturing has made increasing use of traditional 2-D machine vision inspection, optical character recognition (OCR) and ID reading systems, which increase quality, improve throughput and reduce costs. But there are numerous applications that are better suited for 3-D vision such as measuring height, volume and tilt of parts or reading raised characters against a similarly colored background, and performing inspections in variable lighting conditions. These challenges are being addressed by a new generation of 3-D vision systems that utilize laser triangulation in combination with a 2-D imager to generate a 3-D topographical profile of an object that can be used for measurement, inspection or character recognition.
Three-dimensional vision systems are able to perform all types of 3-D measurements that read characters and codes, independent of contrast or lighting conditions. Another advantage of 3-D vision systems is that they can provide real world measurements to micron level accuracy without being specially calibrated for the application. For many manufacturing applications where 2-D inspection is limited, 3-D vision systems provide substantial performance upgrades that can improve quality, throughput and efficiency.