One of the important aspects of an intelligent system, of any size, is the need for all subsystems to communicate. The requirement to integrate sensor systems, motion, and logic into a cohesive gestalt places a burden on the designer to ensure that everything in the final product, be it a console or a facility, works together harmoniously. Advanced automation has brought more focus on machine vision systems and the software that enables it.

In this podcast, we talk to Christoph Zierl, Technical Director at MVTec Software, about the state of machine vision software and the applications that currently benefit from it. The company recently initiated a technical partnership to enable easier integration of machine vision and process automation with Hilscher Gesellschaft für Systemautomation.

Thanks to Hilscher's consistent platform strategy, all cifX PC cards use the standardized API as well as the same drivers and tools, regardless of the protocol or card format. The integration of the multiprotocol netX processor enables all Real-Time Ethernet protocols to be realized with just one hardware suite. To switch from one protocol to another, only the firmware has to be reloaded.