The Vision Show 2018: What to expect at North America’s leading machine vision show

From April 10-12, The Vision Show returns to Boston, bringing together global experts at North America’s largest showcase of machine vision and imaging components and solutions.

Held every other year in Boston, the show features an exhibit of the largest array of machine vision and imagingcomponents in North America and highlights including the Embedded Vision Pavilion and conference track, the startup competition, and the Collaborative Robots conference track. Attendees will have the chance to meet with suppliers from all over to learn about the latest ways to solve their imaging needs.

"We’ve hosted The Vision Show since 1996, and every year we see greater interest due to the tremendous advancements being made in the field," said Jeff Burnstein, president of AIA. "Our attendees consistently turn to The Vision Show because they know it’s the one place they can learn about new and up and coming technologies and trends, while at the same time have the opportunity to interact directly with the vendors actually making those technologies."

>>> Editor’s note: Keep an eye out for an article highlighting Vision Systems Design’s editorial coverage of products that will be showcased on the show floor.

Conferences and education

In addition to the exhibition, The Vision Show also features educational conferences and certification classes that are designed to" help you implement vision – no matter what industry you are in." Tracks being offered at the conference include:

• Vision integration
• Embedded vision
• Industrial Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and emerging technologies
• Collaborative robots
• Certified Vision Professional – Basic
• Certified Vision Professional – Advanced

Hot topics being discussed in these tracks include 3D imaging, 10 GigE, machine learning, deep learning, PCIe, and robotic safety, among others.

AIA startup competition

Once again, the AIA will hold its Startup Competition, in which companies utilizing vision and imaging technologies were encouraged to enter for the chance to win $5,000.

Five semi-finalists, which will be given booth space on the show floor, will have five minutes each to pitch their technology to a panel of investors and vision experts. In addition to leveraging vision and imaging products, companies should have been around for five years or less, raised less than $2 million since launching, and not be affiliated with a larger group. The five companies at this year’s show are as follows:

• Fastree3D: A company developing next generation LiDAR designed for intelligent automation for vehicles and machines.
• Logograb: A company that provides a logo recognition API to detect company logos in large volumes of images and video.
• Photius: A company developing "disruptive inspection and mapping solutions" for infrastructure and construction management.
• Socialmap: A company developing a social behavior intelligence platform for education and workplace settings.
• Vtrus: A companydeveloping autonomous robotic inspectors that can "quickly extract information out of the analog world."

Keynote and important show dates and times

Helen Greiner, a co-founder of iRobot Corporation and Founder of CyPhy Works, will give the keynote speech at this year’s show. In 1990, she co-founded iRobot Corporation and served as President and Chairman until 2008. iRobot Corporation is the most successful mobile robot company in the world with more than 15 million Roomba vacuuming robots delivered to date.

Recently Endeavor Robotics was spun out of iRobot to focus on the military market with the PackBot and SUGV tactical mobile robots. CyPhy Works delivers persistent drones for military and industrial applications.

The Vision Show exhibition begins at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, April 10 and concludes at 3:00 PM on Thursday, April 12.

The Vision Show conference begins prior to the actual show, with CVP classes beginning at 8:00 AM on Monday, April 9. The last non-CVP session—which covers the topic of machine vision for robotic guidance, defect inspection, dimension gauging, and identification applications—goes from 12:30 to 1:00 PM on Thursday, April 12. The final session, the CVP-Advanced Certification Exam, takes place 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM on Friday, April 13. There is no cost to attend the show, but a fee applies to the educational conferences.

Recently, the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) released a report stating that sales of machine vision, robotics, and motion control systems and components in North America have set new records in 2017. Expect to see this reflected at The Vision Show in the form of new companies in the market present on the show floor and new products and focus areas for established companies.

View more information on The Vision Show 2018.

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