Two technologies-machine vision and robotics-are combining to propel automation to levels of higher reliability. Systems that are integrating these technologies differ dramatically from those deployed during the early times of manufacturing automation. With the advent of low-cost smart cameras, PC-based frame grabbers, and pattern-matching software, many suppliers and system integrators are merging the best features of machine-vision and robotic-control systems. Nowhere was this more apparent than at the VISION 2012 tradeshow in Stuttgart where a number of companies demonstrated vision-based robotic systems designed to perform industrial automation tasks. Many of the systems on display used 3-D imaging techniques to locate and analyze objects in a variety of scenarios.
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