In recent years, the general public has seen the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI). Manufacturing companies could also take full advantage of it.
In recent years, the general public has seen the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI), with immediate profits if it is used wisely. Manufacturing companies could also take advantage of it. In fact, more and more industrial applications are now based on AI, whether for production, intralogistics or quality control.
Thanks to the continuous improvement of algorithms and the decrease in implementation costs, it is increasingly finding its place in production processes and related areas, allowing companies to gain further efficiency and precision. AI could also help them meet their energy efficiency goals, while maintaining high performance. It is still necessary to have adequate hardware and software resources to collect, process and interpret the data.
AI learning capacities at the service of industry
As with the learning process of a young child, smart machines learn what are the objects present in an image and how to distinguish them from each other. Thus, the learning algorithm of an AI model receives a large number of images representing objects to be recognized later. From the latter, he learns to properly distinguish the part to analyze from the background and other objects. The model is then created from these recognitions and used in the IA execution application.
In order for it to learn to recognize objects, a machine needs a large number of images from different angles, on different backgrounds and in different luminosity conditions, in different positions, colors and details. Once this step has been taken, it will be able to distinguish them without error and thus considerably accelerate the recognition process.
To an optimization of industrial applications
A wide variety of use cases, integrating vision systems, can therefore benefit from the advantages of the deep integration of artificial intelligence. For example, a robotic packaging solution traditionally requires up to three controllers and an industrial PC. All of these systems – having to be set up and programmed – requires various tools often from different manufacturers.
From now on, by integrating AI into this operation, we can only have recourse only one system. The process will include the training of the model, the selection of the camera and the appropriate control equipment as well as the configuration of the vision pipeline which is used to interact with the camera, and an AI module. The latter will have to be efficient enough to allow the company to quickly get the most out of artificial intelligence.
AI modules to facilitate integration
And for good reason, for an effective and simplified exploitation of artificial intelligence within its operations, it is necessary to have good tools, capable of orchestrating with existing systems. This is why compact inference acceleration modules can be directly connected to the controllers.
For flexible integration and a high level of personalization, some of them have an open architecture, meeting the demanding needs of modern industrial applications. Such modules allow, as a result, to perform AI tasks directly from the PLC code and to provide robust support for a wide variety of applications, including vision.
The data analysis capacity in real time, for an immediate processing and response – determinants for operations sensitive to the time factor – also constitutes a primordial criterion in the selection of its AI module. Obviously, we must ensure that the tool corresponds to the highest protection standards, thus respecting the sovereignty and data security.
By involving AI technologies such as recognition and monitoring of objects in real time, industrial applications will greatly gain efficiency. The daily programming and operation of automated systems will be more simplified than ever, while reducing the time necessary for the training of current and future operators. Manufacturers of industrial solutions have understood this: today they offer equipment easily deployable to allow companies to quickly draw all the profits from artificial intelligence within their operations.
