At National
Manufacturing Week yesterday in Rosemont, IL, Cognex Corp.
rolled out an operator display panel for industrial vision systems that
eliminates the need for a PC on the factory floor.
Known as VisionView,
the new display panel could enable operators to easily change vision system
parameters on inspection lines in factories. The seven-inch screen, which runs
on Microsoft
Windows CE, represents a departure of sorts for visual inspection systems
because it doesn't require users to enter information with a mouse or keyboard.
"Corporate
IT departments don't want to add complexity to what's already on the factory
floor," says Narayan Subramanian, factory automation product marketing manager
for Cognex. "They want simplicity, and this touch screen is simple."
The touch
screen incorporates five Ethernet ports and three USB ports, enabling users to
connect up to nine cameras to the back of the device. Using it, operators can
look at images from all nine of the cameras and perform basic vision system
management functions, such as altering thresholds or changing a region of interest
on a part.
Subramanian
says the new operator interface is less than half the cost of a PC. It also reduces
the need for training and ongoing operator involvement.
"This
system does not need periodic maintenance," he says. "You just plug it in once
and you're done."
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