美国的 3D 机器视觉市场：采访 North Coast Technical 的 Dave Sexton

北海岸技术 是我们的长期合作伙伴，也是我们技术在美国市场值得信赖的经销商。 我们采访了 North Coast Technical 总裁 Dave Sexton , 关于美国市场及其对3D视觉技术的需求。

北美市场如何采用3D视觉技术？您认为未来对3D视觉和智能自动化的需求会增加吗？

D.S：在美国，人们对视觉引导机器人技术支持的 3D 视觉技术和自动化解决方案非常感兴趣。每天都有新产品推出，以响应高端自动化创新和促进生产的上升趋势。对 3D 视觉和智能自动化的需求正在快速增长，并且随着时间的推移最终将取代 2D 视觉。这是因为 3D 视觉可以提供比 2D 视觉更多的信息和好处。

美国企业采用 3D 视觉技术的标准方案如下： 大多数 3D 视觉项目从可行性试验开始，以测试该技术并确保其运行良好并可以部署在实际生产线上。测试成功后，可进行更大规模的推广。

您认为 Photoneo 技术的最大优势在哪里？为什么您认为它优于市场上的竞争解决方案？

D.S.：Photoneo 提供了独特的 3D 传感技术，使其领先于市场上的其他技术。它为客户提供了其他解决方案无法提供的功能，即能够以完美的质量捕捉和重建快速移动物体的 3D，现在还支持彩色。这是一个独特的价值主张，使 Photoneo 技术脱颖而出。

另一大优势是 Photoneo 提供硬件和软件。其自动化解决方案包括 3D 视觉以及机器人智能软件和人工智能，可在一个屋檐下提供完整的技术堆栈。当客户不需要寻找不同的供应商来开发一个单一的解决方案时，他们会很感激。

一个很大的优点是 Photoneo 的技术与第 3 方软件兼容，例如 Matrox。

最后，Photoneo 提供高品质的产品！得益于 IP65 等级和热校准，Photoneo 的 3D 视觉设备即使在具有挑战性的工业环境中也能提供稳健可靠的性能。这对我们的客户来说是一项重要资产，因为许多项目都恰好部署在这些类型的环境中。

« Photoneo 提供独特的 3D 传感技术，使其领先于市场上的其他技术。 It offers customers something that other solutions cannot provide, which is the ability to capture and make the 3D reconstruction of fast-moving objects in perfect quality – and now also in color.»

— Dave Sexton, President at North Coast Technical —

What were the most important factors in your decision to distribute Photoneo products? How do you benefit from this partnership?

D.S.:One of the most important factors that we have seen as a great advantage is the flexibility of Photoneo technology and the wide range of application areas that it can cover. The technology is being used in bin picking applications, pick &place tasks, 3D inspection and quality control, manufacturing, 3D recognition for decision-making applications, palletization and depalletization, 3D model creation, and countless others.

This also means that Photoneo technology can be used for automation in many different sectors, such as the automotive industry, manufacturing, food &beverage, agriculture, medicine, logistics, and others.

Photoneo’s wide product portfolio and large applicability range enable us to satisfy more customers.

Now, let’s talk about MotionCam-3D and the patented Parallel Structured Light technology. Where do you see its greatest strengths compared to other technologies available on the market?

D.S.:Well, there is nothing like MotionCam-3D on the market that could compare to its capabilities. Photoneo developed a unique technology that gives it a great competitive advantage in the market.

Like with all new technologies, it will take some time for the market to adopt the technology but it is already happening and the traction is significant!

What are the most common projects and sectors that use Photoneo technology?

D.S.:The most common applications that use Photoneo 3D vision technology include line tracking and robot guidance in the automotive sector, robotic welding and weld quality inspection, or real-time, colorful 3D model creation of moving objects in aerospace applications.

What do you think about the new version of MotionCam-3D that can capture color information? Where do you see its strengths and best use cases?

D.S.:The combination of 3D data, color, and motion in a single device is absolutely unique in the marketplace and enables customers to do applications that were not possible before.

I see a huge potential in the food &beverage industry, where the camera can be used for the detection of specific qualities, such as if a food product is burnt or undercooked, or if a piece of fruit or vegetable is ripe or not.

The need for this kind of application has been unmet by now as there was no technology that could provide satisfactory results.

MotionCam-3D Color enables high-quality, colorful 3D model creation of objects in motion that can have any shape, size, color, or material. This new machine vision capability enables customers to see features they were not able to recognize before with standard machine vision technologies.

What have been the most memorable projects for you that utilize Photoneo technology?

D.S.:Very impressive projects can be found in the automotive sector – for instance, robotic wheel alignment, line tracking, or automated car underbody inspection.

I can also see a huge potential in Photoneo’s advanced bin picking tool Bin Picking Studio or Locator Studio for fast piece picking in collision-free environments.

Very unique applications can also be expected from PhoXi 3D Meshing, which takes the stream of colorized point clouds and instantly creates a full 3D model of the scene while integrating together 3D data and color information.

About North Coast Technical, Inc.:

North Coast Technical was founded in 1997 to distribute machine vision solutions for OEMs and system integrators. The company is headquartered in Chesterland, OH, with offices in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, and Detroit. You can contact them at [email protected] or at (440) 729-7540.