Vision system is low cost but versatile

A new vision system has been developed that simplifies the automation of complex inspection tasks and improves productivity in industrial areas, writes Dean Palmer There were many excellent new products on show at last month's Mtec and related shows in Birmingham, but one that particularly caught Eureka's eye was a new vision system launched by Telemecanique, now part of Schneider Electric. The company's 'Osiview' camera vision system, which looks easy to install and is highly versatile, solves a range of diverse application problems, whether it's simplifying the automation of complex inspection tasks or improving productivity in industrial environments. Tony Malin, product marketing manager industrial systems and solutions at Schneider Electric, told Eureka: "Osiview is particularly suited to the pharmaceutical, food and beverage, electronics, packaging and automation applications. It requires no special programming skills and offers three choices of camera for different sensing solutions. The system is standalone rather than PC-dependent and has Ethernet capability which gives a familiar networking option for end users." On Schneider's stand at Mtec, Osiview preformed various tasks including object presence/absence detection and sorting objects by size and shape. The system is relatively low cost and is pre-programmed for direct connection to most popular PLC brands. The system looks very easy to set up via its user-friendly software. Osiview caters for all levels of system complexity, enabling reference images to be compared against the actual camera image, so possible defects such as scratches and chips can be detected. The system's 'unique tools' facility assists with camera lens and lighting adjustment in this context. Up to 64 inspection programmes can be stored, so a wide variety of items can be inspected. Osiview is part of Telemecanique's 'Global Detection' range of products.