At some point around 2 PM on Wednesday, the second day of the VISION show, I met with Eric Ramsden, Product Manager at Lumenera Corporation.
Prior to the show, about four months back, Ramsden and I had done a question-and-answer session, but I still wanted to stop by to ask him about a few other topics that we didn’t cover in the article. One of the topics, which was brought up to everyone I met with, was the overall state of the machine vision industry, which Ramsden said he thought was on the rise.
"More and more people are utilizing machine vision," he said. "Automation is one aspect for growth, but because of increased demands for solutions that speed up inspection, increase accuracy and improve reliability, people are adopting it in other industries as well. These include traffic , medical imaging, and scientific imaging."
(Editor’s note: What do you think? Will the industry grow in 2015? Let us know here.)
He added, "New imaging technologies and performance enhancements are creating new opportunities and opening up new markets as a result."
For Lumenera, maintaining a global presence while paying attention to customer needs is paramount to growth. Adding reps in both Germany and Asia has helped to increase the company’s global presence, suggested Ramsden.
"In addition," he added, "We are in constant communication with our channel partners about technology roadmap requirements to ensure the products we are developing next line up with their own strategies."
In the aforementioned Q&A, Ramsden touched on the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market, which he identified as a potential growth area.
"UAVs are a new growth area that was only seen in movies until recently. Today, companies are using this technology to safely image hostile environments, accurately render 3D maps, and measure water and nitrogen levels for agriculture. To use an old phrase 'the sky’s the limit!'"
During our interview at the show, he once again talked about UAVs, noting that the use of industrial-grade cameras for hyperspectral imaging in UAVs is a new potential for growth as DSLR solutions are simply not meeting the requirements.
"UAV applications are still being developed, and there is a growth opportunity in this market," he said. "We've seen a lot of interest from UAV developers in our small form factor cameras."
View more information on Lumenera.
Shown in the video: Lumerena showcases its USB 3.0 cameras imaging this moving phonograph at Vision 2014 in Stuttgart, Germany
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James Carroll
Former VSD Editor James Carroll joined the team 2013. Carroll covered machine vision and imaging from numerous angles, including application stories, industry news, market updates, and new products. In addition to writing and editing articles, Carroll managed the Innovators Awards program and webcasts.