Omron has released the FH compact vision system. The module provides a high-speed image bus, four-core processing, an efficient vision algorithm and fast EtherCAT communications.
The FH vision systems are intended for seamless integration with PLCs, motion controllers and robotic control systems, and are ideally suited for applications in high-speed manufacturing machines of all types.
The modules are fully compatible with Omron Sysmac Studio Automation software. Sysmac Studio can be used to set up, debug and simulate all slave devices connected via EtherCAT, including not only vision and other sensing elements, but also motion controllers, logic devices and drives.
The FH vision controllers run on Omron’s Shape Search III vision algorithm, which provides fast, precise measurements to be made even if images are out of focus, or if the targets are randomly positioned, randomly rotated or overlapping. This is achieved without the need for user-dependent calibration, making FH vision systems particularly easy to set up and operate.
The vision systems can support multiple high-resolution cameras with no degradation of performance or image capture speed. This allows them to handle even the most complex of inspection tasks and, in some applications, it also means that a single vision controller can be used where previously several would have been needed, which makes possible substantial cost savings.
The vision controllers incorporate support for the EtherCAT machine control network, providing communications cycle times as short as 500µs, as well as allowing the implementation of motion control synchronised with the communication cycle. The controllers also support custom.NET controls, which mean that images and measurement results can be displayed on an external PC.
