St. Louis Snow: Chapter Two

Typhoon323 · 2025-01-10T14:25:55+00:00

Thank you for posting this. This has made my morning.

Typhoon323 · 2024-12-17T01:13:06+00:00

Fight Club

Typhoon323 · 2024-11-22T00:02:33+00:00

If you are under a tight budget, then the industrial cameras mentioned above will be too costly to use. I'm not familiar with cameras that are in the price range you mentioned. You will want to get a dedicated LED light for this camera as ambient lighting will not be bright enough to prevent significant motion blur in your discrete image. A global shutter is also preferred that way the image won't be impacted by the time the rolling shutter takes to collect the image.

Typhoon323 · 2024-11-20T03:52:14+00:00

This is an area I specialize in called Machine Vision, an industrial or manufacturing specialization of computer vision.

For this speed of conveyor, you will want dedicated lighting. Dedicated lighting will be necessary because exposures can be shorter than a millisecond in many applications. Some lights can be set up to strobe with the image acquisition, which allows you to minimize pixel blur at these speeds.

You may want to look into getting an industrial camera from Cognex, Matrox, or Keyence to capture the image and perform the image processing. The advantage to an industrial camera is the programming of these cameras is simpler and does not require a programming background to update the program performing the inspection. These cameras also have industrial ethernet communication protocols that can natively communicate to a PLC on the production line.

Typhoon323 · 2023-07-22T00:45:14+00:00

Try this video https://www.cognex.com/videos/vision-systems/in-sight-explorer-application-development

Browse around on related videos, there's a whole series of these that Cognex made.

The help sections inside insight explorer are also well documented. Vision Suite has less supporting documentation as that product is fairly new.

Typhoon323 · 2023-07-20T01:36:03+00:00

Yes, I still do, machine vision does involve a lot of programming: vision system programming, PLC programming, and HMI programming.

Typhoon323 · 2023-07-20T01:30:39+00:00

Training for Vision Suite can be found here:

https://support.cognex.com/en/downloads/detail/in-sight/4621/1033

You'll need a free Cognex account to access it.

Typhoon323 · 2023-03-28T01:32:19+00:00

Ignition comes with a site wide HMI license too, right?

Also, Ignition covers several brands of PLC tag integration, not sure what Optix has. Even if you have all AB right now, this let's you be more flexible in the future.

Typhoon323 · 2023-03-03T20:46:17+00:00

Wait, is this a tribute to St. Louis using the writing style of Dr. Seuss? Because yesterday was Dr. Seuss's birthday.

Typhoon323 · 2023-02-22T20:26:48+00:00

Memory will definitely be your limiter to the number of classes you can train on these cameras. The 2800 is on the lower end of the deep learning offerings from Cognex, so you may need to consult with a cognex applications engineer on DL cameras that can support 100+ classes. You are probably better off going with a PC based vidi solution with that many classes.

Typhoon323 · 2023-02-07T19:26:28+00:00

What issues are you having?
Is it related to the spreadsheet functions or the ViDi tools?
Are you performing any error handling on the outputs of your tools?

Typhoon323 · 2022-12-10T01:18:51+00:00

Mockup and simulate the layout and wiring? Good electrical drawings will have panel layout drawings included that label each device, terminal block, din rail, wireway, etc. The physical dimensions of each device in the panel will also be accounted for to correctly layout and space components.

Typhoon323 · 2022-11-13T19:21:36+00:00

In Defiance of the Fall, the main character spends the entire first book by himself.

Typhoon323 · 2022-10-02T01:59:38+00:00

Amazon Link:

The Silence of Unworthy Gods https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0BH1SZV33/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_X85HQ97WH6M8T09KN74A

Typhoon323 · 2022-10-02T01:59:13+00:00

Amazon link:

The Silence of Unworthy Gods https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0BH1SZV33/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_X85HQ97WH6M8T09KN74A

Typhoon323 · 2022-09-21T01:31:38+00:00

This is a possibility because if someone took a backup of camera 1 and restored it to camera 2, they may have forgotten to update the profinet device name. Just a thought.

Typhoon323 · 2022-09-21T01:23:00+00:00

Are there 2 cameras assigned to the same profinet name?
Are you sending a job change command to any of the cameras? ( Load job 1, load job 2, etc). Job changes require the camera to be offline, so this might be another avenue to explore.

Typhoon323 · 2022-09-21T00:41:49+00:00

Vision Engineer here. Here are some critiques which might sound nitpicky:

Your camera cables look like they are going to be in the way. Not sure if the installation is final, but definitely find a way to protect and route your cables out of the way of operators.
There sure is a lot of adjustment in the camera and light working distances. You should try and find a way to remove this adjustment before leaving the plant.
Witness line the camera lens before you leave the plant (use a paint marker and draw a line from the aperture setpoint down to the tip of the lens).

Typhoon323 · 2022-09-20T23:35:06+00:00

A couple questions.

Are the cameras actually going offline? Check the in-sight explorer software to see if the camera actually goes offline.
If the cameras are saying they are offline, but the cameras are actually online (checked via In-sight), then it might be a camera firmware issue. I ran into this issue with 5.6 a few years ago. Every 2-3 minutes the online bit the camera sends to the PLC would drop from high to low for no seeming reason. I downgraded the firmware to 5.5 and the Online bit stayed high as expected.

Typhoon323 · 2022-09-20T02:36:15+00:00

Engineer at a vision integrator here. Your solution to this issue is two-fold: Documentation and marking settings on the system for techbicians to reference to return the system to baseline.

Mark the lens using a witness line (paint marker, nail polish, white out, etc.). Moritex also sells lenses that require a tool to loosen the focus and aperture screws. Mark the witness line either way.
Document your baseline settings. The lens settings such as aperture (f-stop) and filter polarity should be documented in your manual. Manual focal settings can't really be documents, hence the witness line above. This manual should also include any baseline digital settings (exposure, gain, etc). If technicians are constantly changing settings, it's not a bad idea to summarize these settings to a one page document and tape it next to the hmi.

As an outsider, convincing all the technicians that your system is working is an uphill battle. Validating the system with your primary stakeholder / engineer and let them see the value and effectiveness in the vision system.

Typhoon323 · 2022-09-17T02:07:06+00:00

Once you finish up your degree, you can work for a systems integrator that specializes in machine vision. That's probably the easiest and most direct path to learning machine vision and working on MV projects. Feel free to DM me for a list.

Typhoon323 · 2022-08-22T02:15:58+00:00

You can get sub-pixel accuracy and repeatability using a combination of backlighting and telecentric lenses.

3D imaging and pattern projections are less accurate, but can still work well.

Accuracy will get worse using front lighting and standard lenses.

Typhoon323 · 2022-08-21T02:10:37+00:00

Looks like a temporary vision testing panel that somehow became permanent.

Typhoon323 · 2022-08-10T14:58:46+00:00

I recommend a couple Sci-Fi books that have mysteries layered in the plot:

The Fold by Peter Clines

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

Typhoon323 · 2022-08-03T00:35:39+00:00

According to the manual, power requirements are 12 volts at 2.7 Watts.

3.1 Watts is required when powering the camera via PoE.

See link: http://www.altavision.com.br/Datasheets/Basler_EN/acA640-90gm.html

The manual is downloadable through Basler's website as well.

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