Punctuated equilibrium is a theory describing evolutionary change that happens rapidly and in response to geological events occurring between long periods of stasis, or equilibrium. It was developed by paleontologists Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould in the 1970s in contrast to the then-dominant view of biological evolution as a smooth and continuous process. It’s a term that could be applied to recent events within the world of machine vision.

The City of Fredericksburg, VA, has improved the way it manages parking by adopting a vision-based, automated parking system known as autoChalk from Tannery Creek Systems. The system has helped generate greater revenues, improved efficiency, and fewer complaints and repeat offenders.

Researchers Hiromasa Oku and Masatoshi Ishikawa at the University of Tokyo have developed a rapidly deformable, variable focus liquid lens in which they can change and control shape within a few milliseconds using a stack of piezoelectric actuators.

The neural processing involved in visually recognizing even the simplest object in a natural environment is profound—and profoundly difficult to mimic. Using graphics processing units (GPUs), researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and The Rowland Institute at Harvard University are now making progress faster than ever before.

DapTechnology demonstrated an S3200 3.2-Gbit IEEE 1394b FireWire system-on-a-chip (SoC) in November at VISION 2009 in Stuttgart, Germany. The demonstration showed video data being transported from a Xilinx development board through a 10-m FireWire cable to a PCI Express board in a host computer.

Producers of packaged meat products must ensure that the portions of meat that are packed are accurately portioned and cut. Deviating from specified weights by more than a half an ounce for a 16-oz steak, for example, can be expensive. Similarly, cutting the meat in smaller portions will result in unhappy customers, especially if the meat is to be offered to some of the world’s most famous restaurants.

Two types of crystalline silicon are used in the production of solar cells. In the first type, monocrystalline silicon solar cells are produced by slicing wafers from a single crystal boule. In the second, multicrystalline silicon is first cast into a block, which is cut into bars and then wafers. In the manufacture of these multicrystalline wafers, solar cell manufacturers need to closely monitor the production process.

Today, many camera vendors develop products based around standard sensors from manufacturers such as Aptina, Sony, and Eastman Kodak. Because of this, it has become increasingly difficult for camera companies to differentiate their products from their competitors'.

In October 2005, the European Commission (EC) mandated the use of Braille for pharmaceutical packaging on newly approved medicinal products. According to the EC directive, both the name and dosage of the medication must be embossed on each carton in Braille format. By using this format, a combination of up to six raised dots allows up to 64 alphanumeric characters and other symbols to be represented.

Compact, 12-lb linear steppers (53 N continuous force, 16 lb, 71 N peak force) travel at 80 in./s (2 m/s), with 1-µm (0.00004-in.) resolution and can operate in any axis. They feature 1G acceleration and are appropriate for new and existing gantry robots; pick-and-place systems; wire bonders; parts transfer; and fiberoptic, semiconductor, medical, and other robotic applications. Available with a hard chrome solid or hollow platen in lengths up to 144 in. (3.65 m), longer travel can be achieved by supplying the platens in sections.

Dalsa camera models deliver high speed, color and monochrome models with lens options that include C- or CS-mount lens'. Genie camera models offer flexibility for industrial vision applications.

PHANTA distributes image from 1 FULL camera to as many as 4 frame grabbers up to 85MHz.

Breaking the USB Barrier

VC4067/NIR Smart Camera provides the user with the ideal solution for EL inspection. This Smart Camera is optimized for quality inspection tasks in solar cell production and detects reliably micro cracks, shunts and disconnected fingers. Additionally, VC offers the standardized Solar Solution: wafer handling and positioning with accuracies under 2µm.