Driving towards the New Blue Ocean of Machine Vision

The R&D personnel of the Red Boat Laboratory of Rocker Boat Technology are conducting product testing. Shot by Zhou Jie (Zhongjing Vision)Various models of 3D cameras, image sensors, spherical light sources, visual quality inspection equipment

The R&D personnel of the Red Boat Laboratory of Rocker Boat Technology are conducting product testing. Shot by Zhou Jie (Zhongjing Vision)

Various models of 3D cameras, image sensors, spherical light sources, visual quality inspection equipment... have entered the product exhibition hall of Chongqing Zhongke Rocker Boat Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Rocker Boat Technology"), and a dazzling array of industrial visual automation products are eye-opening. Wang Kan, Director of the Delivery Center for Rocker Boat Technology Products, introduced that these independently developed flagship products have been widely used in fields such as automobiles, light industry leather, and biomedicine.

Since its establishment in 2020, Rowboat Technology has focused on the research and application of machine vision technology and products. By building research platforms in optics, mechanics, electronics, algorithms, and software, it has overcome multiple challenges in the field of optoelectronic high-precision measurement, effectively improving the level of intelligent manufacturing. Rowboat Technology has recently won the "2022 China Industry University Research Cooperation Innovation Award".

Tackling technical difficulties

As the name suggests, machine vision is the use of machines instead of the human eye for measurement and judgment. Machine vision is an important branch of artificial intelligence, "said Zheng Daoqin, Chairman of Rocker Technology.

It is reported that machine vision can improve the flexibility and intelligence of production. In some hazardous work environments that are not suitable for manual work or situations where artificial vision cannot meet the requirements, machine vision is commonly used to replace artificial vision. Meanwhile, in industrial production, machine vision technology can improve production efficiency and automation.

The key core technologies cannot be purchased or purchased, and we must take the path of independent innovation. Zheng Daoqin said that from the beginning of the company's establishment, a technology research and development team was established to carry out technological breakthroughs in visual algorithms and software development core technologies.

How to reduce spot welding spatter during the automobile manufacturing process is a difficult problem that many automobile factories are striving to solve. "Welding spatter will stick to the surface of the product, affecting the quality and appearance of the product." Zhang Wenbo, director of the rowboat science and technology research and development center, told reporters that after a long time of scientific and technological research, the company's technical team successfully developed the "5G intelligent welding detection Big data platform" last year.

The platform uses 5G IOT technology and photoelectric sensor technology to break through the bottleneck of data transmission link bandwidth of solder joint process parameters. Combined with artificial intelligence algorithm, it captures the flight path characteristics of sparks, realizes the fusion analysis of Big data of solder joint quality, and improves the control precision and level of welding spatter. After this research and development achievement was put into the market, the production efficiency of the application enterprise increased by 20%, production costs decreased by about 10%, and the defect rate decreased by nearly 20%, "said Zhang Wenbo.

Innovation cannot be achieved alone, but through joint innovation. Rocker Boat Technology strengthens cooperation between industry, academia, and research, based on its own advantages, and strengthens scientific and technological cooperation. Last year, the Red Boat Laboratory jointly built by the Joint Research Institute of Rocker Boat Technology was officially put into use. The laboratory carried out innovative research and development of technology and products in three major directions: machine vision intelligent equipment, machine vision and intelligent detection, machine learning and intelligent system development. Currently, it has successfully developed 5G+industrial artificial intelligence visual inspection collaborative robots, leapfrog machine vision intelligent manufacturing systems Multiple technological achievements such as human-machine collaborative intelligent loading and unloading guidance system.

When I met Zhou Fujiang at the Red Boat Laboratory of Rocker Boat Technology, he and his team were busy conducting experiments on an artificial intelligence machine vision detection system. 34 year old Zhou Fujiang has just arrived at the laboratory for over a year and has been involved in the development of multiple technical projects such as the 3D coating quality online monitoring system and the 3D line laser contour scanning camera. There is no shortcut to tackling key technologies, and our technical team spends almost every day 'soaking' in the laboratory. "Zhou Fujiang became excited about the research and development achievements, saying," After extensive testing, the success rate of the artificial intelligence machine vision detection system has exceeded 99%

As of now, Rowboat Technology has established 5 research platforms and participated in the formulation of 4 national standards in the field of machine vision. The company has 100 intellectual property rights, including 21 invention patents and 9 utility model patents, forming a machine vision Patent pool including devices, algorithms and software systems.

Innovative product development

Product innovation is based on market demand and competitive analysis, "Zheng Daoqin said. The company is customer-oriented, evaluates product development, and formulates a series of standardized processes and systems to improve the efficiency and quality of new product and technology research and development.

Industrial cameras are one of the core components of machine vision. At the beginning of this year, Rocker Technology launched an industrial camera product -3D monocular Structured light camera. "This camera uses monocular 3D imaging technology, which can complete high-quality 3D image reconstruction in 0.5 seconds." Wang Kan said that from the cumbersome first generation camera, to the second generation binocular Structured light camera, to the monocular Structured light camera, the company has won a larger market through product innovation and iteration.

In the development of this product, there have been more difficulties than expected. The technical research and development team, with the perseverance of 'one muscle', constantly gropes and summarizes experience through experiments. Zheng Daoqin said that after unremitting efforts, the technical research and development team has solved each technical problem and reached an industry-leading level.

Surface defects affect the quality of leather products. Rocker Boat Technology has innovatively developed the "Leather Surface Intelligent Detection System", which effectively solves industry problems such as surface reflection of leather materials and low manual detection efficiency. Compared to traditional manual testing, intelligent testing systems are more efficient and accurate, able to detect 95% of stains, coke, oil stains and other defects. The quality inspection efficiency can be improved by 200%, and labor costs can be reduced by 50%. They are favored by the market, and the company has signed orders with multiple artificial leather enterprises, "Wang Kan said.

At present, Rocker Boat Technology has laid out and constructed six product lines in the fields of liquid impurity defect detection, solid surface defect detection, shape and size detection, three-dimensional shape detection, welding spatter control, and visual positioning, forming a product matrix covering machine vision, intelligent equipment, and algorithm platforms.

Empowering Traditional Manufacturing

In the automobile manufacturing workshop, the robotic arm swings back and forth, systematically applying glue to the body glass. Suddenly, a small red circle appeared on the monitoring computer screen, indicating that the adhesive strip had broken. The robotic arm quickly arrived at the designated position to complete the glue filling. This is the working scene of the 3D coating quality online detection system developed by Rowboat Technology.

The gluing process of car body glass is related to the sealing, waterproofing, sound insulation and other performance of the car. In the past, many car manufacturers mainly relied on manual testing. "The 3D gluing quality online detection system can detect the continuity of gluing, the thickness of the glue strip and other conditions in real time and automatically replenish the glue, with a false detection rate as low as 1/10000." Li Xuefeng, strategic consultant of the Rocker Boat Technology Business Operation Center, said that at present, the product has been applied in more than 10 automobile manufacturing enterprises.

In the past two years, rowboat technology has continuously promoted technological achievements from "laboratory" to "application field", promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing industry. Since the beginning of this year, the company has relied on the technological accumulation in the field of machine vision to tailor "industrial brain solutions" for multiple manufacturing enterprises, helping users achieve intelligent energy consumption monitoring, intelligent warning, report management and other digital management, significantly reducing production management costs in industrial manufacturing, and helping manufacturing enterprises achieve efficient production.

"With machine vision as the data starting point, we can aggregate massive industrial Big data, provide manufacturing enterprises with data enabling services such as equipment access, multi-source industrial data aggregation, industrial Data modeling, help enterprises build digital workshops and intelligent factories, and constantly improve the level of intelligent manufacturing." Zheng Daoqin said that at present, Rowboat Technology has reached cooperation with many manufacturing enterprises in Chongqing, Vigorously promote local manufacturing enterprises to accelerate the pace of intelligent transformation and Digital transformation.

On the river, there is a small boat that relies on paddles to push forward, with the characteristic of "only moving forward without retreating". Rocker Boat Technology is named after this, and we will continue to delve into the field of machine vision, increase innovation in optoelectronic sensing and artificial intelligence technology, improve the automation, intelligence, and flexibility of manufacturing production lines, and make every manufacturing production line 'hearing and seeing', "Zheng Daoqin said.

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