No high-tech without industrial machine vision: the use of machine vision systems is indispensable for any company wishing to produce in a networked and fully automated manner. "The demand is huge. It is therefore unsurprising that even companies, whose core business focuses on other sectors, have invested more seriously in machine vision in recent years," states Florian Niethammer, Team Manager of VISION, explaining the current market situation. "VISION has therefore gained new exhibitors in 2016. These are companies, who wish to reposition, or increasingly position, themselves and their expertise in industrial machine vision."

 

For instance, the ifm Group will be exhibiting for the first time this year at VISION along with its subsidiary company pmdtechnologies ag. ifm has invested heavily in machine vision in recent years. "We have advanced developments in cooperation with pmdtechnologies and significantly expanded our portfolio. Alongside 2D and 3D cameras, this also includes the relevant accessories, including

 

LED lighting," explains Mike Gonschior, Product Manager for Object Detection, Camera Systems and PMD at ifm. "We plan to show at VISION in Stuttgart what is possible today with our systems. VISION represents the leading trade fair for machine vision. We expect high-calibre decision-makers from the most diverse sectors. The high percentage of visitors from abroad is of particular interest to us, as we would like to expand our international network to system providers and integrators."

 

Markus Damaschke, Managing Director of di-soric Solutions GmbH & Co. KG, had similar reasons for deciding to exhibit for the first time at VISION: "We have attended VISION many times as a visitor in the past. It is the leading trade fair for industrial machine vision in Europe and sets the benchmark in this sector." di-soric Solutions is a sister company of the sensor manufacturer di-soric GmbH & Co. KG and sees itself as a unique complete provider in the machine vision, identification and integration sector. "We are therefore not just a manufacturer – instead we deliver complete systems with specification and full integration to our customers." di-soric Solutions has now significantly extended its product range with multiple award-winning products, such as Machine Vision 4.0 and ID Hammer. "Attending VISION as an exhibitor is a further systematic step in demonstrating our performance."

 

Machine vision does not represent uncharted waters for Robert Bosch GmbH – although VISION does. "Our solutions for the flexible, networked Industry 4.0 factory are already in use in production at Bosch. Even users outside the Bosch Group use our products and it is this target group that we would like to more specifically address in future at events, such as VISION 2016," states Volker Hartmann, Assistant Product Manager for the Assembly Systems and Special Machines division at Robert Bosch GmbH, explaining why the company opted to exhibit at VISION 2016. "We regard VISION as an attractive event for the trade visitors to whom we would like to present our product range."

 

 

Bosch will be showcasing one of its three mobile, collaborative assistance systems from the APAS family in Stuttgart. "The APAS inspector features a high-resolution high-speed camera and innovative 3D process. Using replaceable test modules, the inspection unit can be used in the most diverse production contexts – for instance for high-precision surface inspections or completeness testing," explains Volker Hartmann.

 

The experts at ifm identify similar trends. "On the one hand, 3D camera technology will open up completely new fields of application. Examples of this include 3D scanners, which can ideally be used with 3D printing and virtual and augmented reality," explains Mike Gonschior. "The spotlight is also increasingly on user-friendliness. We need our cameras to be as easy to use as a simple sensor." Which is why the ifm Group's focus at VISION 2016 will primarily be on 3D camera technology, which ifm has developed in conjunction with its subsidiary pmdtechnologies. "Visitors to VISION will be able to see for themselves how simply these 3D cameras can be integrated into industrial applications."

 

"In our view, the fusion of hitherto separate technical areas into a single solution represents a clear trend," states Markus Damaschke, Managing Director of di-soric Solutions, offering his opinion. "New approaches enable complex single solutions, which previously had to be operated by individual specialists, to generate fused total solutions, thereby offering users clear benefits in terms of time to market, the requisite provision of specialists and the resulting award of the overall project. With Machine Vision 4.0 we have created a lasting benchmark with the world's first stand-alone full integration of machine vision into the Siemens TIA portal."