Machine Vision and beyond

October 2, 2008

Machine vision is generally understood as image processing for industrial applications, as opposed to the so-called non-industrial applications of for example medicine, surveillance, traffic, entertainment, to name only a few. However, also these areas are in fact industries, only not production oriented ones. And the term Machine Vision could also be understood as “machines that see”, whatever they see in whichever industry or application as long as it is an automated process. This broadening of a definition would directly lead to a huge broadening of what is today considered the Machine Vision Market and a large group of additional players could be suddenly seen on the field.

Is this useful or not ? For a trade journal ? For an association ?

Let´s face the question by taking a closer look into these other areas of application for the technologies we usually cover with INSPECT (www.inspect-online.com).

The INSPECT magazine 03/08 is focused on a wide range of different applications beyond production. Besides the target of generating profit quite a few of these applications directly or indirectly provide for a safer world, a cleaner environment or improved medical treatment. The combination of fast 3D stereo tracking in combination with tissue simulation in virtual reality for example allows for the first time ever to practice eye surgery until proficiency is reached like pilots practice mastering the airplane before their first real take-off. With the increase of age-related eye problems if only by the shift in the age pyramid, millions of us will be very happy about this in the future.

A totally different and yet machine vision empowered tool to make our world a safer place is the equally respected and loathed speed control. Speed measurement, number plate recognition and driver face capturing are all optical and machine vision tasks. As much as these curbside boxes cost us frequent drivers and as much as we might curse it for again getting us in the one moment of lowered attention, I think we still agree that thousands of lives are saved because of the presence of these speed cameras.

Recycling is one way to get our energy balance back on track and glass recycling yields especially high potential. Did you know that with each ton of recycled glass the emission of greenhouse gasses is reduced by 200 kilograms ? This, however, is only made possible by very fast and highly accurate optical sorting of the secondary raw material.

These and many more equally important equally interesting applications are covered with the magazine. Among them also the meanwhile famous Stasi (i.e. Ministry for State Security, German Democratic Republic) puzzle, the vision empowered reconstruction of 45 Million torn or shredded Stasi documents. A topic very intertwined with our country´s recent history, yet not as German as one could think at first glance.

So coming back to the question: does the definition of Machine Vision need to be extended? Why don´t you share your thoughts on this and other “vision related” matters with other experts either here or in our newly established INSPECT community at http://network.inspect-online.com.

Looking forward to meet you there,

Gabriele Jansen

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Second Life: Future First Place of Business ?

August 20, 2008

Just imagine the possibilities: doing business globally without having to travel at all. No more wasting of hours getting to your destination, no more “you are selected for special screening” harassment on US airports, no more bad air, bad food and cramped legs with 14 hours hops to Asia, no more traffic jams, no more missed connections, …. Instead only warm and comfy sitting in front of your notebook, a cup of coffee next to you and the worlds biggest market place just one keystroke away.

Today you can already virtually test-drive your new Beemer or buy a pair of sport shoes (virtual and real) in Second Life. Maybe tomorrow you will be able to visit a trade show there. The products will be shown in 3D animation, including all the technical specs and the pricing that applies to your company. The salesperson has enough time for all your questions and enough expertise to answer them as well. There is no need to walk endless halls to get to the couple of vendors you want to see, there is also no need for stale coffee and standardized trade show cookies to get you through the day. In minimal time you are perfectly informed about the new products of your vendors, about some interesting new players on the market and you chatted amicably with your favourite suppliers as well as with a couple of business partners also visiting the show. - That is your avatar chatted with their avatar, which is even better since you did not shave this morning.

Nice scenario, very effective, very cost saving for your company, might be even healthy for yourself, compared.

For the vendor: even better. Just imagine being able to be present at virtually all interesting trade shows worldwide, without the hassle of shipping material and people all over the world, building costly booths and getting your equipment running without electricity in – say – Mumbai. Your products are represented always in the new version, information updated immediately, your sales force reaches spectacular peaks of efficiency and after you had issued the companywide rules of conduct for your employees in the Internet, your CI is transported flawlessly.

It is remarkable anyway how much, in general, the avatar today resembles the actual person as opposed to being some sort of fantasy superhuman. Admittedly, there might be a tad fuller hair or a wee bit less tummy, but all in all there is a tendency to design the electronic image as a match for the physical appearance of its owner. This shows that the virtual reality is on a clear path to being used as a means of transportation more than as a fantasy game place. Still short of “Beam me up, Scotty”, there is no faster way to travel than the Internet. Maybe Second Life in its form today is not yet the pinnacle of an electronic market place ready for capital goods, but the need is clearly there. This is also very visible with the increasing popularity of Internet business networks (did you know that there is an INSPECT community at http://network.inspect-online.com/ ?).

So are we already on the verge of a new way to do business or is the physical personal contact irreplaceable in the foreseeable future ?

Gabriele Jansen

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