Add Depth to Your Processes With 3D Machine Vision

What comes to mind first when you think of 3D? Cheap red and blue glasses? Paying extra at a movie theater? Or maybe the awkward top screen on a Nintendo 3DS? Neither industrial machine vision nor robot guidance likely come to mind, but they should.

Advancements in 3D machine vision have taken the old method of 2D image processing and added literal depth. You become emerged into the application with true definition of the target—far from what you get looking at a flat image.

See For Yourself

Let’s do an exercise: Close one eye and try to pick up an object on your desk by pinching it. Did you miss it on the first try? Did things look foreign or off? This is because your depth perception is skewed with only one vision source. It takes both eyes to paint an accurate picture of your surroundings.

Now, imagine what you can do with two cameras side by side looking at an application. This is 3D machine vision; this is human.

How 3D Saves the Day

Robot guidance. The goal of robotics is to emulate human movements while allowing them to work more safely and reliably. So, why not give them the same vision we possess? When a robot is sent in to do a job it needs to know the x, y and z coordinates of its target to best control its approach and handle the item(s). 3D does this.

Part sorting. If you are anything like me, you have your favorite parts of Chex mix. Whether it’s the pretzels or the Chex pieces themselves, picking one out of the bowl takes coordination. Finding the right shape and the ideal place to grab it takes depth perception. You wouldn’t use a robot to sort your snacks, of course, but if you need to select specific parts in a bin of various shapes and sizes, 3D vision can give you the detail you need to select the right part every time.

Palletization and/or depalletization. Like in a game of Jenga, the careful and accurate stacking and removing of parts is paramount. Whether it’s for speed, quality or damage control, palletization/ depalletization of material needs 3D vision to position material accurately and efficiently.

I hope these 3D examples inspire you to seek more from your machine vision solution and look to the technology of the day to automate your processes. A picture is worth a thousand words, just imagine what a 3D image can tell you.