Cognex, a specialist in industrial machine vision, has released the In-Sight 3800 vision system. Designed for high-speed production lines, In-Sight 3800 offers an extensive vision toolset, powerful imaging capabilities and flexible software to deliver a fully integrated solution for a range of inspection applications.

“The In-Sight 3800 offers twice the processing speeds of our previous systems, performing tasks like quality inspection in as little as one-third of a blink of an eye,” says Lavanya Manohar, vice president of Vision Products. “This added power allows users to maximise throughput and accommodate faster lines while delivering the high accuracy that they have come to expect from the In-Sight product line.”

The new system features an embedded set of vision tools that includes AI-based edge learning technology and traditional rule-based algorithms. Easy-to-use edge learning tools solve tasks with high variability and are set up in minutes with just a handful of training images. These industry-proven, rule-based tools are suited to solving deterministic tasks with specific parameters. Customers have already begun using the In-Sight 3800, with impressive results.

“When we selected Cognex, we were under the assumption that the processing time of the In-Sight 3800 would be 30% faster than the current In-Sight 7900 vision system in use,” says Nicolas Chomel, technology development director at SIDEL, a provider of equipment, services and solutions for packaging consumer products. “However, during qualification tests, the In-Sight 3800 proved to be 50% faster in our application.”

In-Sight Vision Suite software, a common platform across all In-Sight products, powers the In-Sight 3800,offering both EasyBuilder and Spreadsheet development environments.
For further information www.cognex.com/in-sight-3800

Q5D Technologies is delivering a £1.7m project in collaboration with the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) to accelerate automation within the aerospace industry by using a novel robotic solution to add embedded wiring into complex aircraft components.

Project LiveWire, led by Bristol-based Q5D, aims to automate the manufacture of airline seating components and control systems by embedding wiring into the structures that make up these parts, helping reduce costs and build lighter, higher-quality components.

Wiring in aircraft currently takes place by hand, making it an expensive and laborious process that is prone to errors and can cause failures and sometimes even fires. As part of the project, Q5D created a five-axis robotic tool that can add wiring to a complex shaped component in a new, improved way.

For its part, the AMRChad to devise a proof-of-concept solution to calculate the position and rotation of a workpiece that would enable the robot to automate the process of embedding wiring. In addition, the AMRC had to create integrated validation processes for quality inspection.

The benefits of automating the robot path using a vision system will provide Q5D’s robotic technology with greater flexibility to adapt to dynamic environments. Making automatic adjustments to the robotic path on the fly will also increase productivity as it will decrease the manual programming required.

Even though the project looked at a pathway for use in the aerospace sector, the concept is transferable to any robotics automation system.
For further information www.bit.ly/3QM6svA