Machine Vision Product Research May 2007

Research was undertaken to gain a better understanding of Control Engineering subscribers’ applications and needs regarding machine vision products.

Executive Summary• Among those who specify, recommend, or buy machine vision products, 79% do so for in-plant requirements, while 37% do this for OEM needs.• 90% of respondents use machine vision products for inspection. Almost two-thirds use machine vision for motion control and product inspection. Of those using machine vision for Motion Control applications, almost 80% are doing so for assembly guidance (79%) and robot motion control (78%).••• Proprietary and Gigibit Ethernet are currently the most widely used network protocols for machine vision products, with usage among 58% and 53% respectively. Looking ahead to next year, results suggest Gigibit Ethernet, USB, and IEEE 1394 (FireWire) will expand usage with Gigabit Ethernet being the most popular.• Among those who specify, recommend, or buy machine vision products, 55% do not consider machine vision too costly nor complex to implement.• Forty-four percent of respondents have used smart vision sensors. Eighty-three percent of this segment report the sensors met their requirements.• Thirty-four percent of control engineers surveyed currently use vision system integrators, and another 13% plan to use them in the next year.• Cognex (DVT) sold machine vision products to 55% of respondents over the past year. Keyence was next most in terms of market penetration, by virtue of sales to 23% of respondents.• Fifty-seven machine vision products was the average number each survey participant purchased during the past 12 months. This equated to average spending in the past year of $103,517 per respondent. Forty-four percent of control engineers’ need for machine vision products will grow over the next year.• Almost half of respondents (48%) mentioned capital budget limitations as the most significant impediment to their increased use of machine vision.

Machine Vision Product Research 2007

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