Cognex corporation celebrates 25 years of machine vision leadership

Citation

(2006), "Cognex corporation celebrates 25 years of machine vision leadership", Sensor Review, Vol. 26 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.2006.08726dab.003

Cognex corporation celebrates 25 years of machine vision leadership

Cognex corporation celebrates 25 years of machine vision leadership

Keywords: Machine vision, Image sensors

Cognex, a leading supplier of machine vision systems, celebrated 25 years of machine vision leadership with a gala celebration in Boston on January 12, 2006. Employees from around the world were flown to Massachusetts, site of the company's world headquarters, for a full day of activities capped by a celebratory event in downtown Boston, to honor Cognex's leadership role in the machine vision industry over the past quarter of a century.

Dr Robert J. Shillman, and two MIT graduate students, Bill Silver and Marilyn Matz, founded Cognex in 1981. Dr Shillman invested his life savings of $86,000 to develop a commercial product based on research in machine vision that he carried out as a National Science Foundation Fellow at MIT.

“When we started Cognex in 1981, machine vision was a curiosity practiced almost exclusively in academic and government laboratories,” said Dr Shillman, who still serves as Cognex's Chairman and CEO. “Today, because of advances in both hardware and software technologies, machine vision plays a critical role in factories around the world, where it is guiding the manufacture of virtually every product that is made in high volume, ranging from potato chips to computer chips.”

Vision systems were first employed in large numbers by the semiconductor and electronics industries, where the speed and precision needed for assembly and inspection far exceeded the capability of human vision.

The relatively expensive and complex machine vision systems of those early years have evolved into today's vision sensors, which are inexpensive and easy-to-use devices ... about the size of a cell phone ... that can solve manufacturing problems on virtually any production line. This evolution has led to increasing adoption of the technology in general factory automation, currently the fastest growing market segment for machine vision. In addition, machine vision is starting to be used in new markets, such as building automation and transportation.

“Over the past quarter of a century, Cognex has succeeded by identifying practical applications for machine vision, and then challenging our engineers to advance the state of the art and create products for those applications. By following that common-sense strategy, Cognex has become the world leader in this very challenging and exciting business, and our products help manufacturers around the world produce high quality goods at the lowest possible cost, thereby enabling every consumer to purchase and enjoy a wide range of affordable products” said Dr Shillman.

For more information on Cognex achievements and the history of machine vision, visit Cognex Corporation's website at: www.cognex.com