AIT Senior Research Engineer Petra Thanner (Research Group High-Performance Vision Systems/ Center for Vision, Automation & Control) represented the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology at the Business Conference of the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA) in Seville from 4 to 6 May.
As an expert in the field of machine vision, she was invited by the EMVA to take part in a panel discussion on the challenges of machine vision.
Research must take a holistic approach
"From the perspective of a research institute, the greatest challenge for the machine vision industry will be to master the transition from quality inspection to quality-controlled production. In this sense, machine vision systems are no longer separate sensors. They must be an integrated part of holistic sensor and parameter networks within complex production processes.
Future vision sensors will detect a variety of different product quality characteristics and thus provide different information for more efficient process optimization methods.
To achieve this, research must take a holistic approach that considers all aspects of productivity, including the value chain and the human operator in addition to direct process parameters.
Machine vision systems and AI-based decision making have the potential to create important conditions for a more sustainable and resource-efficient production chain," says Petra Thanner about the future development of machine vision and the role of research and AI. According to her discussion partners, her statement clearly hit the nerve of the time.
The four-member panel consisted of well-known industry representatives along the value chain - research, component manufacturers, system integrators and application: Petra Thanner/ AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Nuria Garrido Lómez/Continental Automotive, Martin Klenke/Teledyne and Benjamin Cocquelin/Tiama. Moderated by Peter Ebert/inVision Magazine, they discussed the key question of whether the challenges facing the industry will be solved by 2040 and what developments or prerequisites will be necessary. The panel discussion has now become an integral part of the agenda of the conference.
21st EMVA Business Conference
The EMVA Conference is the central annual event for the machine vision and image processing industry. It sets the course for the development and strengthening of the industry in Europe. The conference brings together leading companies and technical experts in the machine vision industry from Europe and around the world. Trends and challenges in the industry are discussed, ideas exchanged and collaborations forged.
This year's conference was framed by two key themes that affect companies and research institutions alike: the current geopolitical situation and its impact on the European market (opening keynote) and the issue of recruiting skilled workers and employees (closing keynote).