The industry isn't laughing

I enjoyed your editorial in the January 2003 Vision Systems Design. The savvy manufacturing managers that you refer to have been brainwashed into acceptance of mediocrity, fixating on component price while tending to trivialize what is required for the completion of a successful MV solution. It's trivialized because that's how the smart camera marketers want it.

"Look Ma, No Engineering" should be "Some Assembly Required" or "Actual Results may Vary." It is definitely the main challenge that all MV solution-oriented people and companies face.

Rick Hinze
PPT Vision Inc. , Eden Praire, MN
www.pptvision.com

In your recent editorial (January 2003, p. 48) you hit the nail right on the head. Our company deals with many end users in the imaging market, and we hear the same issues/horror stories that you wrote about. It is very true that application-specific problems are not easily solved by general solutions. Application solutions take time, patience, and an understanding of many different technology areas. I have to say that you are challenging the industry to step it up a notch, and I believe that is a good thing.

Greg Hollows
Edmund Industrial Optics
Barrington, NJ
www.edmundoptics.com

Your recent editorial (Jan. 2003, p. 48) hit the nail on the head in more ways than one. The context of your term "plug and play" makes me think you are referring to what has also been called "plug and chug." There are many practitioners who do very well with textbook problems where they can just fill in the blanks of some equation or dialog. When it comes to originality and solving application-specific problems, they fall short. In my opinion we need to be able to translate technology potential into application reality so that it satisfies the bottom lines of our companies and customers.

Peter Raeth
Computer Engineer
www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6007