IDS aims to make automation easier with software update

IDS has made artificial intelligence available to factory automation via OPC UA and provides flexibility with vision apps.

The recently released software update for the IDS NXT platform provides users of the AI solution IDS NXT ocean with new features. It extends the system's AI capabilities to include object detection, offers turnkey solutions with vision apps and, with a new development environment, allows users to program their own image processing tasks and execute them as vision apps on their cameras. Using OPC UA, AI-based image processing can also be integrated directly into factory automation without writing a single line of code. The update is free and can be used with all IDS NXT cameras.

Users without deep learning or programming skills are supported by precisely coordinated workflows and tools. They can now use the new vision apps "Classifier" and "Object Detector," for example, to classify image components or identify specific objects based on artificial intelligence with their cameras. The vision app allows users to assign image processing tasks to the cameras as desired. The applications range from simple barcode reading to complex AI analyses.

For this purpose IDS provides the new development environment "IDS NXT Vision App Creator." Developers and AI specialists can now dive even deeper into the system, create individual vision apps and adjust IDS NXT cameras even more effectively to their needs. This also allows the combination of classifications or object recognition with classic image processing, such as measurement tasks, to be realised in one device.

Another major improvement is the integration of the industry-standard protocol OPC UA. IDS NXT cameras can now communicate with machines and controllers in the same language and exchange tasks or results directly. The use of this key technology enables the integration of intelligent cameras into factory automation without additional hardware or programming effort. Standardised communication via OPC UA also creates the prerequisite for the "plug and produce" of new devices. The set-up time of machine vision systems can thus be reduced to a minimum.