VISION 2022 Roundup – what did we learn?

Last week, over 6.5k attendees descended on Messe Stuttgart for VISION 2022. It’s believed that around 60 countries were represented, and the event attracted 378 exhibitors. Here’s what we learned over the busy three days.

Driving forces in machine vision

The forces driving growth in the machine vision industry remain similar to previous years – a substantial desire for faster image processing across an expanding range of applications.

Machine vision standards are doing an excellent job in keeping pace with the requirement for faster image acquisition and transfer, and many suppliers are embracing this aspiration. For example, the live demo on our booth showcased our 4xCXP-12 frame grabber acquiring and displaying images from four independent machine vision cameras in real time. No other interface offers such speed and flexibility over cables of comparable length.

We were also visited by customers looking to design vision systems for novel applications which are relatively new to our marketplace. The growth in the UAV and underwater ROV sector is increasing significantly, while vision-assisted robotics are being deployed in all sorts of unexpected places. Hyperspectral imaging is still a buzz word, with food sorting and agricultural applications taking particular advantage. Perhaps one of the fastest-growing sectors investing in multispectral and hyperspectral imaging is the recycling sector, you can read more about its use here.

With a necessity for more compact and controllable imaging, our Harrier autofocus-zoom camera demo (pictured above) attracted a lot of attention, demonstrating how a wireless IP camera mounted on a remote control helicopter can capture and transmit low-latency, high-resolution video without the need for bulky equipment or restrictive cabling. With a variety of zoom, shutter, output and size options, we were able to suggest a Harrier camera for almost every requirement brought to our booth!

Miniaturization is also still evident across machine vision applications, with systems needing to be smaller and smaller. For the first time, we were able to offer a solution to visitors looking for board-level imaging as we brought our new Oriole SDI Board Camera to the show.

Also noticeable is the spreading consolidation within the marketplace, demonstrated by many exhibitors now having shared or adjacent stands. This has meant that some companies are able to offer a wider product and service proposition, and certainly since our acquisition by Solid State in 2020, we’re pleased to report that we’ve expanded our group expertise into computing, power, communication and even antenna technology.

Global vision challenges

A noticeable challenge amongst attendees was that the component shortage is still affecting supply across the globe. Frame grabbers specifically are proving hard to come by for many, but visitors to our booth were relieved to hear that we currently have stock of many of our CoaXPress and Camera Link frame grabbers, some even ready to ship with days.

VISION show highlights

What did we enjoy the most from our time in Stuttgart? Highlights for us have to be the live band at the exhibitor evening which was joined for a session by Florian Niethammer (bass, Messe Stuttgart) and Dietmar Ley (guitar, Basler AG), resulting in a band with 2 bass and 3 guitars! And we enjoyed meeting Spot when he came to visit our booth – Boston Dynamic’s robot dog who was specially trained for the show to display the capabilities of Creaform’s 3D scanner.

VISION this year also incorporated the Plugfest event which usually takes place alongside the IMVE meeting. As the meeting in Tokyo this Autumn has been harder to attend due to travel restrictions and full diaries, bringing the plug-and-play testing playground to Stuttgart made perfect sense.

It was great to see so many familiar faces and meet some new ones as the event circuit reinvents itself after a tumultuous couple of years. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone back in Stuttgart for VISION 2024!