SBIR-STTR Award

The objective of the overall SBIR program is to combine the flexibility and ease-of use of Acuity's general-purpose standard computer platform based machine vision systems with the raw processing power of Adatptive Solutions' massively parallel hardware to produce easy-to-use PC/Windows based high performance machine vision systems that can be used by manufacturing engineers and factory floor personnel to efficiently develop and deploy a wide variety of critical machine vision applications without requiring skilled programming. This project will thus advance the state of the art in machine vision technology, allow addressing more challenging applications in a cost effective manner, and leverage previous ARPA investment by making the massively parallel processing hardware developed under another program available to a new class of commercially important applications on the factory floor. Phase I tasks include: brief review of related work; analysis of application requirements; definition of system functionality and specifications; finalization of proposed system architecture and development of detailed hardware/software designs; exploration of approaches for vision processing algorithm acceleration using the neurocomputer hardware; development of limited breadboard prototypes. Based on the above work, needs for future R&D will be identified and Phase II efforts will be planned. ANTICIPATED

Benefits:
In addition to expected use in critical defense and aerospace manufacturing applications the proposed systems have very significant commercial potential in the semiconductor, electronics, automotive, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, packaging/containers, discrete parts, and consumer goods industries.

Machine vision is a very effective tool for monitoring and control of manufacturing processes. Its use can improve productivity, lead to higher product quality, reduce process variability, and allow development of more flexible production equipment. However, penetration of machine vision in general manufacturing is not very extensive. This is also true for defense/aerospace manufacturing. Two key reasons that limit such proliferation are the still relatively high overall installed system cost and difficulty of system deployment on the manufacturing floor. These barriers are the main technology development targets of the proposed effort. The key objective of the proposed Phase II program is to develop an advanced software environment and intelligent user interface concepts that minimize the effort and training required to develop and deploy machine vision in a wide range of general manufacturing applications. Alternative vision system configurations that allow very cost effective deployment will be suppported by the proposed software architecture. User interfaces and customization/programming environments that support a variety of users ranging from operators and installers to system integrators and 3rd party developers will be made available. Because of the strong commercialization potential of the proposed technology, Acuity will be pursuing extensive concurrent and follow-on development and commercialization efforts. In addition to use in critical defense and aerospace manufacturing applications the proposed technology will have very significant commercial application potential in the electronics, automotive, packaging, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, discrete parts, and other consumer goods industries.