Introduction to Industrial 3D Camera
What is an Industrial 3D Camera?
If you look up the term "3D cameras" on Amazon, for example, you'll probably find a long list of 360-degree consumer cameras for video and virtual reality. Industrial 3D cameras, on the other hand, refer to a machine vision sensor that is specifically built to display the environment with accurate depth information in three dimensions for industrial usage. Most frequently used in manufacturing, production lines, or in conjunction with robots and industrial applications.
Why do we need an Industrial 3D Camera for Industrial Automation Applications?
2D cameras have been extensively utilized for barcode scanning, object tracking, and presence detection throughout the previous few decades. As some target objects require a high level of point precision combined with depth information, the necessity for industrial 3D cameras began to grow. Furthermore, 3D technology enables us to manage objects such as shining parts or challenging environments with restricted or excessive lighting.
3D cameras and machine vision technology serve as the eyes for machines, as their term suggests. The information from the eyes is processed by the brain in the same way it is in humans (the computer). 3D cameras take a snapshot of the world and offer the depth data that machine vision algorithms require. This is similar to how we use our eyes to determine the size of an object, its colour, and the distance between two points.
The goal of a 3D machine vision system is to make it possible for an application to complete tasks faster, smarter, and more accurately. Large things are easier to identify and distinguish when observed from a certain distance, whereas small objects require the sensor to produce higher-quality point clouds. Bin-picking, logistics, and inspection applications are common uses for 3D machine vision cameras. The 3D machine vision market is likely to continue growing in the future as more manufacturing industries employ robots and automation.
An Industrial 3D Camera Enabled Bin-picking Example
A comprehensive machine vision system often requires a high-performance industrial 3D camera to picture the targets in the bin correctly, such as bin-picking of many small, randomly distributed objects. The computer in this system can process the point cloud from the 3D camera to determine precise information such as the next grasping point. The industrial 3D cameras are frequently set above the object in a fixed position. More and more cameras are being mounted to or near a robot's gripper for flexibility.
Types of Industrial 3D Cameras
Laser Line Scanning
The laser line is projected onto a target and reflected to a camera sensor, which detects the position of the line and uses deviation of position to calculate the height of the object. A 3D profile of an object can be created by moving the sensor or /target.
Although highly accurate, movement of sensor or target may result in distortion in scan data. It is important to synchronize scan speed and movement speed for optimal data collection.
Applications:
SmartRay | Laser Line Scanner Industrial 3D Camera
Structured Light
This method uses a projector to project 2D geometric patterns onto a target over an area. The geometric pattern is distorted by the target and captured by the camera. The target height is determined by triangulating distances in relation to pattern deviation. Rather than scanning a line, it is possible to scan an entire area without moving the sensor or target.
Applications:
Mega Phase | Structured Light Industrial 3D Camera
Mega Phase Sizector® 3D camera applies phase-shifting structure light technology, of which the basic principle is to project a series of 2D images with specific phase encoding onto the object, and snap it at the same time. Afterwards, the 3D camera decodes the obtained image, calculate the decoding information according to the calibration data, and finally reconstruct it into 3D data.
Both line-laser and phase-shifting structure light technology are based on triangulation, so their accuracy is very close. For structure light technology, light is projected to the entire surface. As a result, 3D data can be generated without any moving or stitching.
What are your plans for utilizing an Industrial 3D Camera? Contact us and share your project applications to explore further.
Contact us to find out more on our products: