A new way of working
Since the launch of Autonomous Machine
Vision (AMV) first product entries in VISION
2018 in Stuttgart, these challenges can be
completely overcome. While AMV systems
can be purchased for 1/10th of the cost of a
traditional solution and installed without the
help of an integrator 1,000 times faster, they
also bring about a vast array of operational
benefits to the manufacturer.
The Inspekto S70 is the world’s first
Autonomous Machine Vision system.
Designed with the manufacturer in mind, the
system is suitable for any quality assurance,
gating or sorting application. The system’s
arm is flexible enough to be installed on any
machine, at any angle and position to get
the required field of view (FOV). The system’s
visual sensor, comprising all camera, lenses
and lighting components, has a wide range
of capabilities to suit different applications.
In addition, the fact that AMV systems
are an off the shelf product – and not a
lengthy integrator project – removes the
lead time of ordering the components for
traditional machine vision solutions. The
Inspekto S70 can be delivered as soon as the
purchase order is received, and it can then
be implemented upon arrival in the plant. In
addition, as Inspekto, as a vendor, represents
the cost structure of one company. This
means purchasing a system from Inspekto
is unlike purchasing components from
the many vendors involved in a traditional
integrated solution, which generates savings
that are passed on to the customer in the
form of the very affordable prices.
Finally, thanks to the several artificial
intelligence (AI) engines underlying the
S70’s ‘brains’, very minimal configuration is
required of the manufacturer’s employees
and the system will self-adapt and self-
adjust to its environment. For example, no
proof of concept (POC) creation nor any
solution development is required from an
external integrator to set up the system.
Once installed the system will self-adjust
to any changes on the line or the lighting
environment.
Furthermore, once the manufacturer has
set up an Inspekto S70 system, it is not fixed
forever to that point on the production line,
unlike a traditional solution would be. If
at any time in the future the QA manager
identifies another point on the line that
would benefit more from visual QA, the
system can be moved from its original
location to the new one. Additionally, if the
system is not required for a period of time,
it can be stored and then re-installed as
necessary in a couple of hours.
This state of affairs is drastically different
from that of machine vision solutions of the
past, where moving a solution from location
to another would in most cases be either
impossible, due the new location’s specific
physical and components requirements,
or require a very notable bill of waiting
time and cost for an integrator to make the
necessary change.
Complete autonomy
If any adjustment is required with an
installed Autonomous Machine Vision
system, it will perform self-diagnosis to
identify the issue, significantly reducing the
MTTR. It can set up its own parameters and
use its intelligent capabilities to test itself
and report back to the QA manager. The
QA manager requires no specific training to
achieve this, all is built into the system and it
is easy to use.
AMV offers very fast MTTR. For example, if
the system’s visual sensor apparatus is faulty
it can be efficiently fixed or replaced by a
member of the factory QA team. This is in
stark contrast to traditional solutions, which
would require the return of the integrator
to suggest tests, figure out the problems
and attend the site to correct it —a time-
consuming and costly process.
The improvement in operational efficiency
offered by AMV represents, as Shigeo Shingo
said, something we have never done before.
Advancements in machine learning, artificial
intelligence and optics have made AMV
possible, paving the way for the Inspekto
S70. Manufacturers can now finally benefit
from powerful visual QA systems with no
downtime, very short implementation lead
times, rapid diagnostics and far less testing,
training and spare parts.
www.inspekto.com
Issue 40 PECM
83