Can presence checking be automated?

This is the cheapest and most reliable machine vision job there is. If your defect is a missing part, you may not need a robot at all.

Free, about two minutes, no phone number. You get an honest no when a robot is the wrong answer.

What the job actually is

Somebody confirms that every component is present and correctly oriented before a unit moves on. It is easy to describe, tedious to do, and the failure mode is quiet: an inspector's catch rate drops through a shift.

Signs it is worth automating

• The defect is binary and easy to define: a part is either there or it is not.
• Escapes are reaching customers.
• A customer requires 100 percent inspection you currently do by eye.
• Inspector catch rate visibly drops late in a shift.

What the cell looks like

Usually a fixed camera station the part passes through, with lighting designed for the check. A robot only earns its place when the check points are hidden, on multiple faces, or too numerous for fixed cameras to reach.

This is one job inside a bigger family. The inspection guide covers the equipment classes, the cost ranges, and the disqualifiers for all of it.

When the answer is no

• Fixed cameras would cover it and nobody has priced that first. Always price the simpler option.
• Your defect is subjective rather than binary, in which case start with defining it.
• Escape rate is low enough that the system cannot pay for itself even working perfectly.
• The check points cannot be seen without disassembly.

What an engineer has to verify

• Whether fixed cameras alone cover every check point.
• Lighting approach, which is usually half the project.
• Part presentation and orientation control.
• Acceptable false reject rate, agreed in writing before anyone quotes.
• Data retention if a customer wants inspection records.

Safety is not on that list because it is not ours to determine. Cell design, guarding and the risk assessment belong to an independent certified integrator, every time.

What the research says

Peer reviewed work from our research library on this application. These are studies of other plants and other settings, not a prediction about yours, and the excerpts are the authors' own words. Every title links to the source so you can check us.

• Automated visual inspection in the semiconductor industry: A survey Szu-Hao Huang and Ying-Cheng Pan (2014), Computers in Industry
• Artificial Intelligence-Based Smart Quality Inspection for Manufacturing Sarvesh Sundaram and Abe Zeid (2023), Micromachines

  From the abstract: “In today's era, monitoring the health of the manufacturing environment has become essential in order to prevent unforeseen repairs, shutdowns, and to be able to detect defective products that could incur big losses.”

• How and why we need to capture tacit knowledge in manufacturing: Case studies of visual inspection Teegan Johnson et al. (2018), Applied Ergonomics
• Human Factors in Visual Quality Control Agnieszka Kujawińska and Katarzyna Vogt (2015), Management and Production Engineering Review

  From the abstract: “Visual control (visual inspection) is often used in production because - in comparison to other kinds of control - it is relatively easy to conduct.”

• Moving towards in-line metrology: evaluation of a Laser Radar system for in-line dimensional inspection for automotive assembly systems Ercihan Kiraci et al. (2016), The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

  From the abstract: “The increasing interest towards intelligent systems has led to a demand for the development of zero-defect strategies, with a paradigm shift from off-line and dedicated to in-line metrology with integrated robotic systems.”

The full machine vision and inspection on the floor shelf has 14 works.

Someone has already done this

See it run

Two clips of this job actually running, from two different manufacturers. Both are the makers' own marketing footage, showing a cell under good conditions with a part it was set up for, so watch them for what the motion looks like rather than as evidence of what your rate would be.