Smart sensor checks for components

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Feb 25, 2005

The Checker 101 is a simple-to-use and inexpensive sensor that can visually detect the presence or absence of components during the manufacturing process.

The Checker 101 is a simple-to-use and inexpensive sensor that can visually detect the presence or absence of components during the manufacturing process.

Checker is a totally new, high-speed feature checker.

It is ideal for checking that all the components are present on a product.

Checker is a great tool for solving many manufacturing problems that previously were difficult or impossible to solve with single photosensors, multiple photosensors or other similar devices.

Checker's compact design provides illumination, optics, sensor, processor, memory and I/O, all fully integrated in a single industrial-grade, IP67 rated package about the size of a mobile phone.

Checker is claimed to be so simple to use that even first time users will have it up and running in a matter of minutes.

Unique, patent-pending technology enables Checker to automatically detect when a product is ready to be inspected; because of that, it doesn't require an external trigger, even for products in continuous motion at high speed.

With Checker, manufacturers are able to easily and cost effectively inspect multiple features on 100% of their products at each stage of production.

Because Checker can analyse over 400 images per second, it can keep up with even the fastest manufacturing processes.

"Checker 101 is the first member of Cognex's new family of smart sensors".

"Unlike general purpose vision systems that can be programmed to perform a wide variety of tasks, each model in the Checker family will do only one thing, but it will do it extraordinarily fast and well", said Dr Robert J Shillman, Cognex's CEO and Chairman.

"Because Checker 101 was designed from the ground up to be low price and easy to use, factory technicians and electricians will find Checker an attractive tool for solving many manufacturing problems that they previously solved - or tried to solve - with photodetectors or other sensors".

Dr Shillman continued: "The currently served market for all presence-sensing devices is in excess of $1 billion annually, worldwide, and, because Checker 101 has a significant price/performance advantage over other means of presence sensing in complex applications, we expect it to address a significant%age of that market over time".

"We believe that Checker's low cost and ease of use will make the saying, 'Check it with Checker', a commonly heard expression on the factory floor".

Checking for the presence or absence of multiple items - such as the cap and the label on a bottle, or all of the lugs on a truck wheel, or all of the pills in a blister pack - is one of the most frequent tasks in manufacturing.

To ensure product quality in applications such as these, most manufacturers currently use either a complex system of multiple photodetectors, or they rely on people to perform inspections.