Bruce G. Batchelor - Böcker

Machine vision systems offer great potential in a large number of areas of manufacturing industry and are used principally for Automated Visual Inspection and Robot Vision. A comprehensive set of image processing subroutines, which together form the basic vocabulary for the versatile image processing language IIPL, is presented.

After a slow and somewhat tentative beginning, machine vision systems are now finding widespread use in industry. So far, there have been four clearly discernible phases in their development, based upon the types of images processed and how that processing is performed: (1) Binary (two level) images, processing in software (2) Grey-scale images, processing in software (3) Binary or grey-scale images processed in fast, special-purpose hardware (4) Coloured/multi-spectral images Third-generation vision systems are now commonplace, although a large number of binary and software-based grey-scale processing systems are still being sold. At the moment, colour image processing is commercially much less significant than the other three and this situation may well remain for some time, since many industrial artifacts are nearly monochrome and the use of colour increases the cost of the equipment significantly. A great deal of colour image processing is a straightforward extension of standard grey-scale methods. Industrial applications of machine vision systems can also be sub­ divided, this time into two main areas, which have largely retained distinct identities: (i) Automated Visual Inspection (A VI) (ii) Robot Vision (RV) This book is about a fifth generation of industrial vision systems, in which this distinction, based on applications, is blurred and the processing is marked by being much smarter (i. e. more "intelligent") than in the other four generations.

The application of intelligent imaging techniques to industrial vision problems is an evolving aspect of current machine vision research. Machine vision is a relatively new technology, more concerned with systems engineering than with computer science, and with much to offer the manufacturing industry in terms of improving efficiency, safety and product quality. Beginning with an introductory chapter on the basic concepts, the authors develop these ideas to describe intelligent imaging techniques for use in a new generation of industrial imaging systems. Sections cover the application of AI languages such as Prolog, the use of multi-media interfaces and multi-processor systems, external device control, and colour recognition. The text concludes with a discussion of several case studies that illustrate how intelligent machine vision techniques can be used in industrial applications.

Pattern recognition is a child of modern technology; electronics and computers in particular have inspired research and made it possible to develop the subject in a way which would have been impossible otherwise. It is a rapidly growing research field which began to flourish in the 1960s and which is beginning to produce commercial devices. Significant developments have been made, both in the theory and practical engineering of the subject, but there is evidence of a schism developing between these two approaches. Practical machines have usually been designed on an ad hoc basis, with little use being made of advanced theory. It is difficult to provide a rigorous mathematical treatment of many problems pertinent to a practical situation. This is due, in part at least, to a conceptual rift between theory and practice. The mathematics of optimal systems is well developed, whereas pragmatists are more concerned with vaguer ideas of reasonable and sufficient. In some situations, the quest for optimality can constrain research and retard practical progress. This can occur, for example, if too narrow a view is taken of "optimal": the accuracy of a system may be optimal whereas its speed, cost, or physical size may be grossly suboptimal. The objective of this book is to present a glimpse of the pragmatic approach to pattern recognition; there already exist a number of excellent texts describing theoretical developments.

The automation of visual inspection is becoming more and more important in modern industry as a consistent, reliable means of judging the quality of raw materials and manufactured goods . The Machine Vision Handbook  equips the reader with the practical details required to engineer integrated mechanical-optical-electronic-software systems. Machine vision is first set in the context of basic information on light, natural vision, colour sensing and optics. The physical apparatus required for mechanized image capture – lenses, cameras, scanners and light sources – are discussed followed by detailed treatment of various image-processing methods including an introduction to the QT image processing system. QT is unique to this book, and provides an example of a practical machine vision system along with extensive libraries of useful commands, functions and images which can be implemented by the reader. The main text of the book is completed by studies of a wide variety of applications ofmachine vision in inspecting and handling different types of object.

After a slow and somewhat tentative beginning, machine vision systems are now finding widespread use in industry. So far, there have been four clearly discernible phases in their development, based upon the types of images processed and how that processing is performed: (1) Binary (two level) images, processing in software (2) Grey-scale images, processing in software (3) Binary or grey-scale images processed in fast, special-purpose hardware (4) Coloured/multi-spectral images Third-generation vision systems are now commonplace, although a large number of binary and software-based grey-scale processing systems are still being sold. At the moment, colour image processing is commercially much less significant than the other three and this situation may well remain for some time, since many industrial artifacts are nearly monochrome and the use of colour increases the cost of the equipment significantly. A great deal of colour image processing is a straightforward extension of standard grey-scale methods. Industrial applications of machine vision systems can also be sub­ divided, this time into two main areas, which have largely retained distinct identities: (i) Automated Visual Inspection (A VI) (ii) Robot Vision (RV) This book is about a fifth generation of industrial vision systems, in which this distinction, based on applications, is blurred and the processing is marked by being much smarter (i. e. more "intelligent") than in the other four generations.

Machine vision systems offer great potential in a large number of areas of manufacturing industry and are used principally for automated visual inspection and robot vision. This publication presents the state-of-the-art in image processing. It discusses techniques which have been developed for designing machines for use in industrial inspection and robot control, putting the emphasis on software and algorithms. A comprehensive set of image processing subroutines, which together form the basic vocabulary for the versatile image processing language IIPL, is presented. This language has proved to be extremely effective as a design tool, solving numerous practical inspection problems. The merging of this language with PROLOG provides an even more powerful facility which retains the benefits of human and machine intelligence. The authors bring together the practical experience from a leading industrial research laboratory and the mathematical foundations necessary to understand and apply concepts in image processing.