Vision system uses AI to detect defects
Claimed to be the industry’s first vision system to use AI defect detection, the FH series vision system identifies defects without learning samples, says Omron.
The image processing system identifies subtle defects with human-like sensitivity to achieve higher defect detection rates, says the company. It is able to detect scratches and blemishes that were once difficult to capture can now be identified even without the use of samples or adjustment, says Omron.
The AI technology reproduces human sensibility of skilled inspectors to detect defects that were once difficult to capture. The FH series vision system can determine acceptable variation tolerances. An AI fine matching tool learns from the image data of non-defective products to quickly acquire the expertise that inspectors develop over the course of many years. This reduces costs and boosts productivity through automation, reports Omron.
In this way, the vision-based visual inspection can be automated while ensuring reliable identification of subtle defects even on flexible lines producing a wide range of items.
The vision system is particularly appropriate for contemporary environements when, with Covid-19 guidelines, people may need to avoid working in the same space on the manufacturing sites. This has fuelled the demand for labour-saving automated visual inspection.
Omron believes that AI has reached the stage where it can recognise object features as well as humans and automatically learn criteria. It says developed the industry’s first defect detection AI that reproduces the techniques of skilled inspectors. This AI is now part of the FH series vision system. Over 30 years of image processing and visual inspection experience have been used to maximise the inspection capability using AI without learning huge amounts of data. AI has traditionally required a special environment, but this is integrated into a system component, explains Omron. No dedicated AI engineer is required for setup and adjustment at manufacturing sites, adds Omron.
