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Factory Automation Systems, Inc. (FAS), a full-service turnkey industrial automation and information systems integrator, is successfully using machine vision to perform orientation, identification and code reading tasks within some of the robotic machine handling processes they have developed for specific customer requirements.

One such application involved finding the orientation of a particular cylindrical object (in this case, an over-the-road truck brake drum), to position it precisely for pick-up and further handling by a robot. In addition, it was also necessary to perform this orientation for multiple types of products (in this case, a variety of types/sizes of brake drums).

The unique solution that FAS developed to accomplish both of these tasks revolves around simplicity. “Machine vision, like any other technology, works best when it’s applied in the simplest manner possible,” says FAS President Ross Pryor. He believes the measure of creativity is how simple you can make the complex. Each step of the FAS solution involves using specific industry-standard technology to do just what that technology was designed to do—no more, no less. The resultant new technology is a creative combination of the known and familiar—easy to understand, produce and maintain.