Automated Industrial Inspection

(23rd-February-2021)

Making better pizza

The design of an industrial inspection system is specific to a particular task and product, such as examining a particular kind of pizza. If the system was required to examine a different kind of pizza then it would need to be completely re-engineered. These systems also require stable operating environments, with fixed lighting conditions and precise component alignment on the conveyer belt.

A neural network was trained by personnel in the Quality Assurance Department to recognise different variations of the item being inspected. Once trained, the network was then able to identify deviant or defective items.

If requirements change, for example the need to identify a different kind of ingredient in a pizza or the need to handle a totally new type of pizza altogether, the neural network is simply retrained. There is no need to perform a costly system re-engineering exercise. Costs are therefore saved in system maintenance and production line down time.

Automatic inspection of components

• Inspecting paintwork on cars

• Checking bottles for cracks

• Checking printed circuit boards for surface defects