Machine Vision inspects a wide range of objects & scenes

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Centre for the Study of the Bible & Violence

Bristol Baptist College, Bristol, England, UK.

Getting Started (No fee)

Application Advisory Service

I am a retired professor with over 45 years of experience, devising Machine Vision systems for industrial and other applications. Click on the dragon to see how I can help

Lecture Courses (Live via Zoom)

The following courses are available

• Basics of Image Processing

• Interactive Image Processing

• Analysing a new application for Machine Vision

Open source e-book: "Machines Can See ...but not as we do"

Chapter 1: Vision in Nature

There are more than 40 different paradigms for vision in nature, all very different from human vision. For aeons, animals with simple vision systems have been successful in meeting the demands of life. Machine Vision engineers need not strive to emulate all of the subtleties and quirks of human vision when a simpler approach will suffice.

Chapter 2: A New Vision

Machine Vision systems are being used widely now, to inspect and measure industrial artifacts as they are being made. Visual machines can perform certain tasks much faster than a human being, tirelessly and consistently while being more reliable and more precise.

Download & view two pages using a PDF reader.

Chapter 3: Images As Numbers

Monochrome (grey-scale) images can be represented by an array (table) of numbers. Colour images require three such arrays. A binary image is a special type of grey-scale image containing only black and white. More efficient methods of representing edges in binary images exist and can often increase processing speed.

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Chapter 4: 256 Shades of Grey (Text)

The simplest image processing operators convert one image into another. Examples: blurring, highlighting edges, enhancing contrast, pseudo-colouring, detecting corners, spots and cracks. Combining two images; and measuring image statistics are also described.

Chapter 4: Figures

To view the text and figures simultaneously, download and save both files. Then, display them, side-by-side, in separate windows, using a PDF reader.

This was found to be a convenient way to display a document containing a large number of full-page figures accompanied by only a small amount of text.

Chapter 5: Seeing Things in Black & White

(Text)

Counting, measuring size, shape, position and orientation of blob-like objects are essential for most Machine Vision applications. Blobs can be reduced to simple geometric figures: rectangles, circles, ellipses, convex polygons, "skeletons", etc and a variety of blob shape measurements is possible.

Chapter 5: Figures

To view the text and figures simultaneously, download and save both files. Then, display them, side-by-side, in separate windows, using a PDF reader.

This was found to be a convenient way to display a document containing a large number of full-page figures accompanied by only a small amount of text.

Chapter 6: Adding a Bit of Colour (Text)

The prime requirement for industrial vision systems is almost always verification, rather than recognition. Colours have to be learned. This applies to standard named colours (red, blue, yellow, etc) as well as those found on industrial artifacts, packaging, food products (e.g cakes, pies, etc) and natural materials (minerals, fruit, vegetables, etc).

Chapter 6: Figures

To view the text and figures simultaneously, download and save both files. Then, display them, side-by-side, in separate windows, using a PDF reader.

This was found to be a convenient way to display a document containing a large number of full-page figures accompanied by only a small amount of text.

Chapter 7: Applications

Applications are illustrated for

Glass & clear plastics, Natural products, Food processing,

X-ray imaging, Thermal imaging, Manufacturing,

Sport & Leisure, Privacy & security,

Fabrics & printed patterns

More Resources (Open Source)

Machine Vision Questionnaire

The MVQ can assist in formalising the requirements and specification for a inspection system. It covers a wide wide variety of technical, operational and managerial issues that should be considered, enabling an engineer to assess the feasibility of a proposed application and the likely benefits.

Proverbs

Attempting to encapsulate the "wisdom" of good systems thinking for Machine Vision, in a collection of one-liners.

Emeritus Professor Bruce Batchelor,

BSc, PhD, DSc, FSPIE, FSME, FRSA

Email: bgbatchelor@talktalk.net

Location: Wales, UK

To the glory of God and in memory of my dear wife Eleanor.