10 years of machine-vision software

As Test & Measurement World celebrates our 25th anniversary in 2006, we join with other companies enjoying the fruits of their success. MVTec Software in Munich, Germany, for example, has spent the past 10 years developing machine-vision software tools for inspection applications.

MVTec began as a spinoff from the Technische Universität München (Munich University of Technology) in 1996. Still owned by founders Dr. Wolfgang Eckstein, Dr. Olaf Munkelt, and Dr. Carsten Steger, MVTec has doubled in size over the past three years, now employing more than 40 vision experts.

The company's primary achievement is the Halcon software library, which provides an integrated development environment for machine-vision applications. The tool offers more than 1000 inspection-related operators, and it interfaces with hundreds of image-acquisition devices. Platform independent, it accommodates Windows, Linux, and Solaris operating systems. The most recent version of the software safeguards all information about the programmer's code and algorithms as intellectual property and prevents anyone from changing them without the proper passwords.

Companion software ActivVision Tools serves Halcon users who would prefer to develop applications without writing Visual Basic code. ActivVision Tools present complete solutions for gauging objects, reading bar codes, and performing blob analysis. Programmers can work with both tools in tandem, using the friendlier environment where possible and resorting to the Halcon source when the preprogrammed solutions do not adequately address a problem.

One of the company's goals is to communicate as much of its expertise as possible to engineers who need to adopt vision tools. Eckstein said, “We build high technology. Only a few specialists have any idea what it can do. A company that works in a segment like this has to consider how to reach potential customers so they can make the most of its capability. Unfortunately, in our industry, such tools are few and far between. We wanted a tool to communicate this special knowledge without giving our audiences a headache.”

To meet this challenge, Eckstein and his crew created the MVTec Vision Kit, which allows the company's distribution partners to demonstrate vision technology to potential customers. The Vision Kit consists of a camera, illumination devices, and sample objects from common production situations, all in an aluminum case. Assembling the pieces and plugging them into a notebook computer creates a simple machine-vision system that lets distributors perform demonstrations using examples that relate to the problems that engineers face.

The company sees this kit as the “missing link” in customer support. MVTec's experts can evaluate an application, help the customer visualize possible solutions using the kit, and provide customer training, thereby contributing to the ease of implementation in the manufacturing line.