IDS introduces AI-complete industrial vision solution

German industrial vision company IDS has released a software update for the company's IDS NXT platform, IDS NXT ocean, that provides users of the all-in-one AI solution with many new features. It extends the system’s AI capabilities to include object detection, offers turnkey solutions with vision apps and, with a new development environment, ensures that users can program their own image processing tasks and execute them as vision apps on their cameras.

Using OPC UA, AI-based image processing can also be integrated directly into factory automation without writing any code. The update is free and can be used with all IDS NXT cameras.

The company says IDS NXT ocean makes image processing with artificial intelligence as simple as possible. Users without deep learning or programming skills are supported by coordinated workflows and tools. They can now use the new vision apps Classifier and Object Detector, for example, to classify image components or identify specific objects based on artificial intelligence with their cameras.

The vision app concept also ensures that users can assign image processing tasks to the cameras as desired. The range of applications is practically unlimited and includes everything from simple barcode reading to complex AI analyses.

This concept is designed to allow developers and AI specialists to create individual vision apps and adjust IDS NXT cameras even more effectively to their needs, and also allows the combination of classifications or object recognition with classic image processing, such as measurement tasks, to be realised in one device.

Another major improvement is the integration of the industry-standard protocol OPC UA. IDS NXT cameras can also now communicate with machines and controllers in the same language and exchange tasks or results directly. The use of this technology enables the integration of intelligent cameras into factory automation without additional hardware or programming effort.