5 Development Areas in Industrial Image Processing Technology
In the past, the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), big data, 3D imaging and robotic process automation have made unprecedented progress. Applications of machine vision technology will continue to evolve. So what is the development trend of industrial image processing technology from now on?
1. 3D Imaging will continue to become widespread
Industrial automation is forcing factory production lines to become smarter, replacing manual labor and reducing labor every day. Image processing is widely used in quality control inspection, but new markets are developing with the emergence of 3D sensor integrated solutions.
2. Increasing Deep Learning applications
The advent of 5G data networking provides the ability to perform automated cloud-based image processing. Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) enables processing of large amounts of data in the cloud for machine vision applications. The deep learning algorithm can quickly classify, detect and segment images. The development of these new artificial intelligence and deep learning systems will increase next year.
3. The increase of robots
According to the International Federation of Robotics, "In 2024, the industrial robot market is expected to grow by 7% worldwide, reaching over 620,000 units.". The trend of human collaborative robots, simplified operation and process learning has helped promote the use of robots in the field of industrial automation. With each passing day, it will become easier and faster for industrial robots to use interface programming. Human-machine collaboration will support small-batch and high-complexity flexible production. Reducing the complexity of use enables the widespread use of robots and vision systems in the medium and long term.
4. Thermal imaging industry testing is becoming increasingly popular
Thermal imaging cameras have traditionally been used for national defense, security and public safety. Thermal imaging technology is widely used in detection.
For many industrial applications, such as automotive or electronic parts manufacturing, thermal data is critical. Although standard image processing systems can see manufacturing problems, they cannot detect thermal anomalies. The combination of thermal imaging and image processing is a growing field that allows manufacturers to detect problems that cannot be seen with the naked eye or standard camera systems.
5. Hyperspectral Imaging Analysis and Detection Technology
New generation modular hyperspectral imaging systems provide quality control tasks in industrial environments with the help of chemical analysis. Chemical color imaging visualizes the molecular structure of the material through the resulting images of different colors. This allows the chemical composition to be analyzed in standard image processing software.
Typical applications include discrimination of liquids, detection of plastics in meat production, detection of different recyclable materials and pharmaceutical tablet quality control.
The main obstacle to such systems is the amount and speed of data that must be processed, but the development of faster processing, better algorithms and camera calibration still make it a hot topic.