AI-enabled camera system bringing visibility to the manufacturing workflow
Virtek Vision International (Canada), technology supplier to many of the world’s top-tier aerospace and composites manufacturers, demonstrated its next generation IRIS 3D Process Monitoring Software, integrated with its new artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled camera system, during JEC World 2024.
The company announced that Virtek Ai Camera captures high-definition, colour images which manufacturers can use to document their build process through to process completion – logging the sequence and duration of individual process steps and creating a digital record for each part that can be used to improve quality and create further efficiencies. Users can upload captured images and process data to their ERP system for visual data reporting and to maintain lasting quality compliance records.
Dietmar Wennemer, President & CEO of Virtek Vision, said, “Our IRIS 3D Process Monitoring Software, working in tandem with our Ai-based Camera System, enables users to supplement their static manufacturing data with high-resolution, colour images captured during ply layup and assembly processes to address the increasingly stringent demands of modern manufacturing. In essence, our system enables manufacturers to collect and manage data visually throughout their entire manufacturing process.”
A standout feature at the show will be IRIS Ai for Universal Inspections, slated for launch in mid-2024, which enables users to create and deploy customized AI inspection models based on their chosen parameters. Darian Butt, Virtek’s Senior Director of Products, explained, “The user’s custom-built AI inspection model will run within the Virtek IRIS platform and is fully integrated with IRIS’s laser-guided build process. When the system detects an anomaly, it prompts the operator to either correct and re-inspect it, or defer to a supervisor to accept it before moving on to the next step in the assembly process.”
Wennemer added, “With the imminent launch of our new Ai-driven software, we demonstrate how we have successfully harnessed the power of Industry 4.0. Ever-increasing amounts of data and machine learning require smart algorithms to detect anomalies and highlight them in real-time. Our focus was to make the implementation and use of smart technologies easy and operator friendly. Humans will make the decisions and information is provided intuitively to make our customers’ factories even more efficient and more productive.”