AI / ML
and adjust to changes in the immediate surroundings , including safety functions when you have encroachment of the physical workspace ,” explains Bjorn Andersson , Senior Director , Global IoT at Hitachi Vantara .
Without machine vision technology , machines could not know where to find objects to pick them off a conveyor or out of a box , could not perform quality control on stock to check for damage or missing pieces , and couldn ’ t recognise a catastrophic error to notify a human colleague .
“ Advanced machine vision allows for greatly improved mobility and independence . Traditional industrial robots live in a literal cage and cannot easily be repositioned , let alone reposition themselves . Modern robots take themselves wherever they anticipate the greatest need , with minimal oversight or correction necessary from a human guide ,” comments Watson .
“ Today ’ s industrial robotics are required to intelligently react and adjust to changes in the immediate surroundings , including safety functions when you have encroachment of the physical workspace ”
Increasing robotic applications with affordable machine vision Affordability has always been a problem within the robotics industry . Those who have historically been able to afford the technology have been leaps and bounds ahead of their competitors , whereas those who haven ’ t been able to afford it lag significantly behind .
“ We ’ ve passed an inflexion point where machine vision is now available , affordable and fast enough to be used in practice . Data , computing power and affordability are the three main ingredients for a step function improvement ,” explains Andersson .
BJORN ANDERSSON SENIOR DIRECTOR , GLOBAL IOT , HITACHI VANTARA
42 October 2022