Optomechatronics is a fusion of optical and mechatronic engineering. Mechatronics (or Mecha nical and Elec tronics Engineering) is the synergistic combination of mechanical engineering, electronic engineering, control engineering, systems design engineering, and computer engineering to create most useful and efficient products and services. The purpose of this interdisciplinary engineering field is the study of automation from an engineering perspective and serves the purposes of controlling advanced hybrid systems.
Optomechatronics is just another evolutionary step in multidisciplinary engineering science. It represents an integration of optical technologies into mechatronic systems and adds a new dimension to an already multifaceted field. Optical elements enhance the functionality of mechatronics and in many cases introduce entirely new capabilities. On the other hand, mechatronic elements bring the same synergistic effects to optical systems.
What do we actually mean when we talk about machine vision or vision technology? It does not mean graphics or design: instead, it concerns the technology of artificial vision. Cameras and computers give machines or devices the ability to actually "see", to recognize objects or situations and to make the right decisions accordingly.
"Vision technology" is still a relatively young discipline, which had its breakthrough in the early 1980s. It deals with images or sequences of images with the objective of manipulating and analyzing them in order to:
a) improve image quality (contrast, color, etc.),
b) restore images (e.g. noise reduction),
c) code pictures (data compression, for example) or
d) understand and interpret images (image analysis, pattern recognition).
Thus vision technology can be applied wherever images are generated and need to be analyzed: in biology (counting cells), in medicine (interpreting CT scanning results), in the construction industry (thermographic analysis of buildings) or in security (verification of biometric dimensions). Vision technology is an interdisciplinary technology that combines lighting, optics, electronics, information technology, software and automation technology.
Machine vision refers the industrial application of vision technology. It describes the understanding and interpretation of technically obtained images for controlling production processes. It has evolved into one of the key technologies in industrial automation, which is used in virtually all manufacturing industries.
Application areas of our machine vision systems: position control, surface inspection, OCR, sorting, barcode check-up (1D/2D barcode), completeness check-up, pattern recognition, object surveying, 2D and 3D telemetry, colour recognition and gear inspection, face and object recognition, and many more.