MOBILITY
VICHINE’S SOLUTION, ZOOMCHECK GIVES GREATER
VISIBILITY INTO PRODUCT QUALITY.
High performing mobile tablet helps
deliver quality vehicles.
In Detroit’s top two carmaker assembly plants, a new,
advanced machine vision system, ZoomCheck®, is giving
inspectors greater visibility and agility using a purpose-
built, light weight, durable mobile tablet to automatically
inspect and catalog pictures of assembled car electronics.
With ZoomCheck®, Operator Guided Inspection software
installed on a Panasonic Toughpad tablet, operators can
more reliably verify electrical connectors are fully seated
on parts such as life-saving airbags, seatbelts and
windshield wipers. Utilizing ZoomCheck® on a handheld
Toughpad tablet allows an inspector the flexibility to get
into the nooks and crannies of assembled vehicles for
quality control inspections and component traceability.
These inspections help prevent field failures and ensure
safety for drivers and passengers.
“If an airbag connector is “soft seated” in a given vehicle
it can vibrate loose preventing deployment when needed.”
CHALLENGE
Provide a powerful mobile computing solution for
technicians and inspectors to utilize in tight spaces
during inspections to capture and instantly analyze
high quality images of components and electronics.
SOLUTION
Working with Panasonic mobile specialists, Vichine
customized its solution with a diffused light source on
the back of the device in order to provide additional light
and more consistent images.
RESULT
Vichine’s ZoomCheck® vision tool gives inspectors
greater visibility and agility helping to improve product
quality and manage costs.
“We had full flexibility
in regards to hardware
platform selection,”
says Bartoshesky.
“We completed a
comprehensive search
of hardened tablets out
there and the features of
the Panasonic Toughpad
came out on top.”
CASE STUDY: VICHINE SOLUTIONS
Tom Bartoshesky explains. “What we’re able to do is install machine vision tools
directly onto the Toughpad, use the tablet camera to take an image and analyze
that image. The system automatically performs the inspections to verify the
assembly meets specifications. The advantage is you can capture what a fixed
camera cannot.” explains Tom Bartoshesky, a key manager of Vichine, the company
that designed ZoomCheck®.
Machine Vision Software with high-performance mobile
tablet boosts precision.
The ZoomCheck® vision tools utilize the Toughpad tablet’s significant processing
power in order to verify that connectors are properly seated. Working with Panasonic
mobility engineers, Vichine customized its Toughpad-based solution with a diffused
light source on the back of the device in order to provide additional light and more
consistent images.
Typically, a machine vision system will have fixed cameras mounted above the
production line. In the last decade, with the tremendous improvements in camera
sensor technology, machine vision software, and portable computational power,
capabilities have increased and prices have dropped. Inspection systems that
previously would have been technically impossible or not cost effective are now
within reach.
“Vichine needed an enterprise-grade tablet with a Windows OS that would
withstand the industrial environment of an assembly plant environment and could
keep pace with the intensive processing tools constantly running pass or fail
inspections, according to Tom Bartoshesky. The Panasonic Toughpad keeps pace
with the intensive processing tools running and provides great performance.”
With experience in designing and implementing machine vision software for more
than 10 years, Jonathan Williams, Chief Engineer at Vichine, adds, “The challenge
with machine vision is to limit as many variables as possible. In machine vision
the variables are anything that impacts the appearance of the image to be analyzed
including focus, intensity, position and scale.”
ZoomCheck®, has dedicated LED lighting controlled through the program via the
Toughpad. The optimal lighting angle, color and intensity can be selected for each
inspection. The ZoomCheck® program also controls focus and uses graphics on
the tablet display to guide the operator into the correct position and orientation.
The processing power of the device allows ZoomCheck® to run multiple algorithms
to compensate for positional variability and scale changes, ensuring the best
inspection photos possible and reliable results.
©2016 Panasonic Corporation of North America. All rights reserved. | ZoomCheck® is a registered trademark of Vichine Machine Vision Engineering. | PSC-M16439CS
[email protected]
888.245.6344 | us.panasonic.com/toughbook
MOBILITY
VICHINE’S SOLUTION, ZOOMCHECK GIVES GREATER VISIBILITY INTO PRODUCT QUALITY
THE CHALLENGE: Provide a powerful mobile computing solution for technicians and inspectors to utilize in tight spaces during inspections to capture and instantly analyze high quality images of components and electronics. SOLUTION: Working with Panasonic mobile specialists, Vichine customized its solution with a diffused light source on the back of the device in order to provide additional light and more consistent images. Download to learn more.
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