(Slideshow) The 12 months of vision: A holiday review of the year in machine vision

Vision systems, from industrial food and beverage inspection to medical diagnostic imaging, continue to advance rapidly year by year. North American machine vision sales grew each quarter in 2013, with the most recent quarter, Q3, seeing a 23% increase in total sales. In addition, growth in the robotics industry could be on the horizon and 2013 machine vision sales in Germany could reach record highs.

But before we look ahead and attempt to prognosticate how the vision industry will continue to progress and grow (vision guided robotics, anyone?) think about all you've already seen in 2013. In "The 12 Months of Vision," we will take a festive look at some of the significant vision-related milestones or stories that we saw from each month of 2013.

Next slide: 3D machine vision guides robots into action