An eye for 3D vision.: Recent Episodes
Zivid
Technical nuggets on 3D color cameras and machine vision for industrial automation, bin-picking, logistics, and robotics applications. High-definition robot vision is used to solve complex tasks. 3D sensors give collaborative robots human-like eyes so they can operate in a three-dimensional environment together with human operators.
Learn more about 3D vision on https://zivid.com.
Breakdown any robotic system into its component parts and it’ll ultimately be composed of just four inter-related functions: sensing, decision-making, acting, and communicating. The first function is particularly critical and is what Zivid looks after, no more, no less.
And as the industry continues to move inexorably from hard to soft to flexible automation solutions, to more market-reactive systems driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning, so will the role of 3D machine vision become even more important.
https://blog.zivid.com/pure-play-3d-machine-vision-a-win-win-for-all
Soon after I started working for Zivid I realized that I want to understand how structured light can create detailed 3D images of objects. How does shining different patterns of light on objects tell us anything about their geometrical structure?
To figure this out, I decided to create a simple test scene in Blender, with a camera and projector separated by a small distance.
You can find the scene and source code for this post at github.com/dragly/structured-light.
https://blog.zivid.com/how-structured-light-works-part-1
SDK 2.0 is a major release for Zivid One+ 3D camera users. We have rebuilt the SDK to be a future proof platform, with focus on giving our customers increased speed, flexibility, and improved point cloud quality.
https://blog.zivid.com/sdk-2.0
In industrial machine vision applications, artifacts in a 3D point cloud are irregularities that can reduce the application's usability when, for instance, trying to detect particular objects.
https://blog.zivid.com/stop-3d-point-cloud-artifacts
Zivid, the 3D machine vision camera company, has announced a major update of its software development kit. Introducing a range of ground-breaking industry firsts, Zivid SDK 2.0 beta includes filtering to correct contrast distortion artifacts, enhanced HDR image capture sequencing, and multi-camera calibration.
https://blog.zivid.com/sdk-solves-fundamental-challenges-in-3d-machine-vision
Mikkel Orheim, Zivid’s VP of Global Sales said,
Our expansion in East Asia is both timely and natural, given the rapidly increasing level of automation and innovation in the region. More specifically, high quality 3D vision technology is being embraced in a wide range of applications where a.o. sophisticated robotics and AI is being used. In this our products’ combination of high speed and high accuracy is a natural fit.
Making it easier to capture high-quality 3D point clouds. At Zivid we are committed to continued advancements of the Zivid One+ 3D camera family through regular software updates.
For the release of version 1.5 of the Zivid SDK and Zivid Studio, our primary focus is to make it easier to capture high-quality 3D point clouds.
Capture Assistant The Capture Assistant makes it possible to capture a point cloud without manually adjusting exposure settings. Think of it as the automatic mode of a DSLR.
Based on the Capture Assistant's output, you can use these settings as is, or fine-tune parameters in "Manual Mode" for the next point cloud capture.
In the point cloud examples section, you can download and evaluate various objects and scenes.
In June this year, STEMMER IMAGING and Zivid signed a distribution agreement for the Zivid One+ 3D color cameras. We took a moment to speak to Tim Huylebrouck, Product Manager at STEMMER's HQ in Pucheim, Germany.
After a bit of work with the sensor, he got a good feel for which buttons to use to achieve the best results.
All in all, it only took me about 10 minutes to get from a packaged sensor to 3D color images on my laptop.
STEMMER IMAGING AG has signed an agreement with 3D machine vision camera company Zivid for the distribution of its market-leading Zivid One+ cameras and software throughout Europe. Providing human-like vision capabilities, the cameras meet the demands of a wide range of high performance robotics and industrial automation systems.
Zivid, the 3D machine vision camera company, has announced the appointment of Integrys as its first distributor in Canada. Focused exclusively on imaging, video and computing solutions, Integrys will provide countrywide support for the Zivid One Plus family of 3D color cameras and associated software tools.
https://zivid.com
It doesn't matter what kind of car you drive. If it's an every day ride or a sports car, with improperly adjusted tires, wrong air pressure, and maybe a slightly aggressive driving style, your car's tires could wear out in a few months - or even maybe weeks.
Italian company VAMAG is an expert at solving some of these potential pitfalls with their professional alignment tools. With over 40 years of expertise in the automotive market, their solutions span a variety of applications, including wheel alignment.
Learn more on zivid.com.
Matrox Imaging Library (MIL) 10 software development kit (SDK) supports the Zivid One Plus line through a programming example that uses the Zivid 3D Camera Core API. The 3D camera is also directly supported in the Matrox Design Assistant X flowchart-based interactive development environment (IDE) by way of a software interface also developed using the Zivid 3D Camera Core API.
https://www.zivid.com/zivid-one-plus
Here is the author's reason to watch out for Zivid and its 3D color cameras;
A spinout from Norway’s SINTEF research lab, Zivid Labs has more than two decades of R&D expertise in optical sensors, 3D machine vision hardware and software. Its 3D color cameras target a range of applications, including de-palletizing, bin-picking, pick-and-place, assembly, packaging and quality control.
Visit Zivid.com.
"I've been in the machine vision industry for 20 years, and I've never seen anything like this."
With Industry 4.0, new possibilities for automation and smart factories arise. Machines can interact autonomously, and massive industrial robots are being outpaced by smaller cobots, or co-robots (from collaborative robots).Because our world is three-dimensional, robots and tools need to relate to their surroundings in 3D.
https://info.zivid.com/blog/why-is-this-3d-camera-an-award-winner
Together with Conecta2 Automotion, INFAIMON developed a 3D picking application for picking and handling randomly stacked rubber gaskets from conveyor belts. Using the Zivid One robot vision, the InPicker tool recognizes and determines the position of the stacked objects and handles collision avoidance in real-time so the robot gripper performs correct and safe extraction of the gaskets.
https://info.zivid.com/blog/better-picking-with-3d-vision
Complex, high accuracy, real-time challenges are successfully resolved by applying the right mix of 3D machine vision technologies.
The fact that 2D machine vision systems have been deployed for a few decades now is a testament to their worth. They do a perfectly good job in a wide range of applications, so there’s nothing wrong with them.
There are though many production line scenarios where the practical limitations of 2D means they simply can’t be used and emerging 3D machine vision systems can.
https://info.zivid.com/blog/why-3d-machine-vision-whats-wrong-with-2d-machine-vision