When approaching a brand new machine vision inspection project, how do you launch a machine vision inspection project? What are the basic processes of a machine vision inspection project? The simple process is as follows: determine customer requirements, solution design, software development, on-site commissioning, document handover. In actual projects, each process may be coupled with each other, but the overall process is basically clear. After organizing, it is as follows.

I. Determine Customer Requirements

At the beginning of the project, it is necessary to accurately and detailedly understand customer requirements. This process requires multiple on-site visits and repeated communication with customers to finalize customer requirements. The main items to determine include application type, cycle time requirements, precision requirements, installation space, lighting environment, communication interfaces, etc.

Application Type -- Determine the machine vision application type (measurement, recognition, inspection, guidance and positioning), understand the changes in product surface state, external dimensions and other factors affecting vision inspection, and preliminarily assess whether the requirements can be met

Cycle Time Requirements -- Customer requirements for production efficiency, quantifying the time for vision inspection steps

Precision Requirements -- Quantify vision inspection precision for each inspection function point and customer production requirements

Installation Space -- Confirm whether the on-site environment has restrictions on the installation of the vision system

Lighting Environment -- Confirm whether the on-site environment has special effects such as strong light, sunlight interference, etc.

Communication Interfaces -- Confirm the data transmission interface types and I/O interface types used in conjunction with the vision system on-site

II. Solution Design

A vision system is an organic whole where all parts work together, not a simple combination. Therefore, the solution design of a project relates to the success or failure of the entire project. From the preliminary solution to the final solution, and the various versions experienced in between, the entire team needs to jointly review to finalize the ultimate solution. The overall solution content mainly includes requirement analysis, vision hardware design, vision software design, feasibility verification, and development plan.

Requirement Analysis -- Organize key customer requirements and analyze requirement feasibility

Machine Vision Hardware Design -- Includes selection of vision system platform, camera, lens, and light source

Machine Vision Software Design -- Use third-party vision software or self-developed vision processing software

Feasibility Verification -- Set up software and hardware environment, preliminarily test whether customer requirements can be met

Development Plan -- List project development plans, modularize project milestones, track project progress

In addition, a complete project should include mechanical, electrical, vision, and other parts. The above is only a brief description of the vision solution design content, while the complete project solution presented to the customer should also include mechanical design and electrical design.

III. Software Development

Software development mainly includes human-machine interface, underlying algorithms, and testing and running.

Human-Machine Interface Development -- Simple and easy to use, intuitive display of processing results; implement software framework, functionalize software modules; software framework mostly adopts producer/consumer pattern, functional modules generally include image acquisition module, algorithm processing module, data storage module, communication module, etc.

Underlying Algorithm Development -- Implement algorithm processing tools (Halcon, OpenCV, NI Vision, etc.); develop algorithm processing flows; generate dynamic library .dll

Testing and Running -- Simulate various situations that may occur on-site, test the stability and robustness of software algorithms.

IV. On-Site Commissioning

On-site commissioning is a rather tedious process, mainly reflected in the many uncertain factors during the commissioning process, such as the impact of ambient light, mechanical vibration, hardware working stability, etc. The main process includes equipment installation, module commissioning, system joint commissioning, and automatic operation.

Equipment Installation -- Motion component installation; camera, lens, light source installation; internal cable and accessory routing of vision system; vision controller, light source controller installation; external communication and I/O cable routing, etc.;

Module Commissioning -- Camera function commissioning (triggered image capture, etc.); workpiece inspection feature vision parameter commissioning (camera parameters, lens parameters, light source position and brightness, etc.); external communication commissioning, etc.;

System Joint Commissioning -- Commission complete vision program; normal production inspection commissioning, etc.;

Automatic Operation -- Automatic operation on startup;

V. Document Handover

When document handover with the customer is needed, it indicates that the project has entered its final stage. At this point, operation documents should be written and on-site training should be conducted.

Operation Manual -- Basic software operation; common problems and solutions;

On-Site Training -- Project workflow; software operation; problem-solving steps;

Shanghai LeaderSoft Information Technology Co., Ltd. has many years of experience in the machine vision industry, has accumulated rich experience in the application field of machine vision, and has many successful cases and solutions. LeaderSoft's powerful core technology is dedicated to solutions for users using machine vision and intelligent control, deeply serving the vision inspection field of the industrial automation industry, especially the automotive inspection industry. In the future, LeaderSoft will continue to be committed to R&D and innovation, based on industrial intelligent manufacturing, and help improve industry quality.