UKIVA Machine Vision Conference and Exhibition 2018
Autonomous vehicles take conference centre stage
By Paul Wilson, UKIVA chairman
The 2018 UKIVA Machine Vision Conference and Exhibition combines an exciting conference programme across seven presentation theatres with an exhibition from some of the world’s leading machine vision companies. The two keynote presentations will examine the use of vision in two very different types of autonomous vehicles.
Professor Tony Pipe, deputy director at Bristol Robotics Laboratory, UWE, will talk about the Venturer project in the first keynote. The Venturer consortium, led by SNC-Lavalin’s Atkins, consists of ten public, private and academic experts, including BAE Systems, Williams and Bristol Robotics Laboratory. This wide-reaching project considers the responses of passengers and other road users to driverless cars, as well as looking at the enabling technology and insurance and legal implications of increased vehicle autonomy. The consortium’s autonomous vehicle, BAE Systems’ Wildcat, is equipped with a situational awareness system featuring radar and cameras.
In the second keynote, Henry Harris-Burland, VP of marketing from Starship Technologies, will discuss the development of advanced, self-driving personal delivery robots that can carry food or shopping within a 2-mile radius, using pavements to make their deliveries. The robot is equipped with nine or ten cameras, radar, and ultrasonic sensors that create an ‘awareness bubble’, allowing it to detect and avoid obstacles. A robot will be in action at the event.
Vision threads
The session dedicated to deep learning provides background information on this hot topic, its benefits and its applications. Presentations on embedded vision will review the differences between embedded vision and traditional vision, as well as looking at potential new machine vision architectures.
3D vision highlights technological innovations such as: a new pattern projection method; the combined use of 3D and 2D data for improved performance; and combining multiple 3D sensors. The practical use of 3D vision systems, especially related to use with robots and cobots, will also be covered.
Camera technology talks will cover interfaces such as 5GigE and 10GigE, and how to migrate towards them. Other talks will look at new sensors and ways of getting more out of existing sensors, including TDI and WDR, and the use of multi-sensor systems.
Optics and illumination explores the common pitfalls and solutions when sourcing optics. Other subjects include hyperspectral imaging, multi-spectrum lighting, ways of standardising LED lighting schemes, and optimising lighting for production lines. The importance of precision lighting control in a variety of machine vision applications will be highlighted.
The use of vision systems and robots also features strongly in the vision systems thread, as well as tools to improve automation efficiency. These include an IoT tool for capturing slow-motion video of machine faults, and an integrated control solution to provide real-time imaging feedback for self-optimising production processes. A new low profile 3D camera will be reviewed.
The understanding vision technology programme includes the CoaXPress standard, EMVA and ISO procedures for measuring camera sensitivity, choosing optics for the latest CMOS and InGaAs sensors, and lighting for machine vision-robot applications. There is also a chance to see how to avoid failures with vision systems, and how different vision techniques can benefit a wide range of industries.
Vision innovation covers current and future 3D and 2D technologies, developments in LWIR technology, and multispectral imaging. There will be a look at pixel level polarisation filters for removing reflection effects directly on the CMOS image sensor, and how choosing the correct cable assembly can solve application-based challenges.
More than 50 exhibitors will be at the show, including vision component manufacturers, vision component and system distributors, and systems integrators. The exhibition offers a great opportunity to see some of the latest vision products and talk to experts about any aspect of machine vision.