Machine vision inspection, as the core perception technology of intelligent manufacturing, with its advantages of high precision, high speed, and stable operation 24/7, has deeply integrated into the quality control processes of most domestic manufacturing fields, gradually replacing traditional manual inspection and becoming the core support for the industrial intelligent upgrade.

Machine vision can be considered the soulful window of industrial automation systems. From object/barcode recognition and product inspection to surface measurement and robotic arm/actuator positioning, machine vision technology plays a vital role in various applications. As a result, its scope is extremely broad, with industry applications so diverse they are almost overwhelming.

China is currently undergoing a transition from labor-intensive to technology-intensive industries, creating strong demand for machine vision solutions that enhance production efficiency and reduce labor costs. As a result, China is emerging as one of the most dynamic regions in the development of machine vision technology.

Abroad, machine vision is mainly applied in the semiconductor and electronics industries, among which the semiconductor industry accounts for 40% to 50%. For instance, PCB (Printed Circuit Board) printing circuits, SMT (Surface Mount Technology) surface mounting, electronic production processing equipment, etc.

The applications of machine vision mainly include two aspects: detection and robot vision.

Testing: It can be further divided into high-precision quantitative testing (such as cell classification in microscopic images, measurement of the size and position of mechanical components) and non-measurement-aided qualitative or semi-quantitative testing (such as appearance inspection of products, component identification and positioning on assembly lines, defect detection, and assembly completeness testing).

Robot Vision: This is used to guide the robot in its operations and movements over a wide area, such as picking up the scattered workpieces from the hopper and placing them in a certain position on the conveyor belt or other equipment (that is, the hopper picking problem). For operations and movements within a small area, tactile sensing technology is needed in addition.

In addition, there are: automatic optical inspection, face recognition, driverless cars, classification of product quality grades, automated detection of printed materials quality, text recognition, texture recognition, tracking and positioning... and other applications of machine vision image recognition.

1. In industrial inspection
Over the past few decades, due to the outstanding advantages of non-contact, high speed, appropriate accuracy, and strong anti-interference ability in the field of industrial inspection, the machine vision technology has been widely applied, achieving significant economic and social benefits.

Automatic visual recognition and inspection has currently been applied to the inspection of product shapes and surface defects, such as wood processing inspection, metal surface visual inspection, printed circuit board defect examination, and weld defect automatic recognition, etc. These detection and recognition systems belong to two-dimensional machine vision, and the technology is already relatively mature. The basic process is to use a camera to capture images, process and recognize the obtained images, and detect the required content.

2. Applications in Medicine
In the field of medicine, machine vision is mainly used for medical auxiliary diagnosis. First, images of human body examinations such as magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, laser, X-ray, and gamma-ray are collected. Then, digital image processing technology and information fusion technology are used to analyze, describe and identify these medical images. Subsequently, relevant information is obtained, which plays an important role in assisting doctors in diagnosing the size, shape and abnormalities of human body diseases and providing effective treatment.

3. Applications in the field of traffic monitoring
In the field of traffic monitoring, intelligent traffic monitoring plays a very important role. For example, by installing cameras at key intersections, the rapid photo-taking function of the cameras can be utilized to automatically identify and store license plates of violations,逆行 behaviors, etc., so that relevant staff can review them.

4. Machine Vision Image Detection Application
Detection is one of the most important applications in the field of machine vision in industry. Optical screening machines are required for the detection of almost all products. However, manual detection has many drawbacks. The accuracy of manual detection is low, and it cannot be guaranteed over a long period of operation. Moreover, the detection speed is slow, which can affect the efficiency of the entire production process. Therefore, machine vision detection equipment is also widely used in image detection applications. For example, the detection of edge characters on coins using optical image screening machines.

In the fifth set of RMB newly issued in October 2000, the side of the one-yuan coin has enhanced its anti-counterfeiting function. Given the strict control requirements in the production process, a visual inspection system was installed at the final stage of coin minting. During the printing process, the registration and color matching of the color separation, the color check during the printing process, the printing quality inspection of the beverage bottle caps in the packaging process, the barcode and character recognition on the product packaging, and the defect detection of glass bottles were all carried out. The defect detection of glass bottles by the machine vision system mainly includes size detection, bottle body appearance defect detection, bottle shoulder defect detection, and bottle mouth detection, etc.

5. Machine Vision Visual Positioning Application
Visual positioning requires the machine vision system to be able to quickly and accurately locate the measured part and confirm its position. In the semiconductor packaging field, the equipment needs to adjust the picking head according to the chip position information obtained by the machine vision, accurately pick the chip and bind it. This is the most basic application of visual positioning in the machine vision industrial field.

6. Machine Vision Object Measurement Application
Visual positioning requires the machine vision system to be able to quickly and accurately locate the measured part and confirm its position. In the semiconductor packaging field, the equipment needs to adjust the picking head according to the chip position information obtained by the machine vision, accurately pick the chip and bind it. This is the most basic application of visual positioning in the machine vision industrial field.

7. Machine Vision Object Sorting Application
In fact, the object sorting application is a step following recognition and detection. Through the processing of images by the machine vision system, sorting can be achieved. In machine vision industrial applications, it is commonly used for food sorting, automatic sorting of appearance defects of parts, and sorting of cotton fibers, etc.

Machine vision functionality is rarely regarded as an isolated system but rather as an integral part of the entire automation system or equipment. It works in conjunction with functions such as motion control, logic control, data acquisition, and enterprise database management, thereby leveraging its advantages. To open up channels between vision and various information systems and achieve interconnection between systems, establishing basic universal standards such as data interfaces and communication protocols will be necessary for the promotion of machine vision and will be an inevitable trend for industrial development.