Colorizing High-Speed Machine Vision

Paula M. Powell, Senior Editor

Color technology has captured a relatively small share of the machine vision market, but that may soon change. For more and more manufacturers in industries from consumer products to automotive, the question is no longer whether to use a gray-scale or color system, but rather, "Where should I use gray scale on the inspection line, and where should I use color?" That is followed by, "How fast can I run the line?"

Consider the golf ball, for example. Anyone with a triple-digit game probably can't tell a practice ball from a distance ball. Neither can the product's manufacturer without the right inspection, sorting and marking process in place…