Editors Note: Entering the Home Stretch of 2022

When this issue is mailed, I will be 10 days away from leaving for Stuttgart, Germany, to attend VISION 2022. It will be a great opportunity to meet up with people I met last year and to stop by and to say hi to people I’ve been in touch with all year for various articles, videos, Webinars, etc. We’re previewing what you’ll see at the show in our ENewsletter in September, and we’ll be reporting in from the show each day, so don’t forget to keep an eye out on www.vision-systems.com.

Speaking of our Web site, you can catch up on all upcoming as well as archived Webinars. Some of our upcoming Webinar topics include logistics/warehousing, SWIR imaging, 3D imaging, embedded vision, advances in image sensing, and 10 things to consider when designing a vision/imaging system. Do you have any suggestions for topics to cover? We’d love to hear from you.

This issue includes a preview of our 2022 Solutions in Vision Report. We took a look at three application areas—factory automation, machine vision, and robotics—and how five emerging technologies are being used by those designing vision/imaging for these applications. The full report will be available for download at www.vision-systems.com/siv. Just answer a few questions and learn how your colleagues are using emerging technologies and what their challenge levels are deploying them.

As we leave the third quarter and enter the fourth quarter of 2022, it’s hard to believe we are this far into the year. My wife and I have one college student and two high schoolers in our home. Although our college student doesn’t participate in any competitive sports at school, he does still play pickup basketball and uses the weight room. My two high schoolers play soccer, rugby, and wrestle. Vision is doing some great things when it comes to athletics. Wrestling was a new one for me, and I know there has to be some vision system out there that can analyze images of my son’s stance and the various moves required to take pin your opponent and show him where he needs to improve. My college student was on the crew team when he was in high school. There must also be high-speed imaging systems available to help him and the rest of the boat improve their timing as the row together as one boat.

There has been a lot written this year about the labor shortage most industries are enduring. We’ve seen how vision has played a role in automating certain processes so companies can reallocate labor. I am very excited moving forward to seeing how vision continues to improve our daily lives away from the factory floor as well. Our product focus on hyperspectral/multispectral this month provides a glimpse into how one still evolving technology has already stretched beyond previous limits of where vision can be used.