DexForce’s NVIDIA Jetson-Powered 3D Camera Breaks The Cost Barrier to Industrial 3D Machine Vision with Seeed Fusion PCBA
DexForce is a start-up AI company focusing on 3D machine vision. The company develops a physics engine named Mixed AI, which can generate synthetic data to train AI models by applying cutting-edge 3D geometric deep learning technology. The company supplies 3D smart cameras and 3D vision solutions to manufacturing customers on the basis of the AI platform. DexSense 3D industrial smart camera adopts advanced active stripe structured light technology. The reconstructed point cloud is dense, with high precision and strong environmental adaptability. It is suitable for various application scenarios such as 3D detection/measurement and robot vision guidance.
Open source promotes technological innovation, and the 3D camera would not be an exception.
With an increasing number of industrial robots in factories all over the world, 3D vision has received more attention due to the lack of depth information of 2D vision. 3D industrial cameras can be eyes of robots, which provide the three-dimensional spatial coordinates of an object. It makes robots more intelligent and flexible with the enhanced perception ability that can distinguish objects even randomly arranged.
Vic Wu, the initiator of project Xema, demonstrated high price is an important reason for the low penetration rate of 3D vision since most factories cannot afford thousands of dollars on an excellent 3D industrial camera. Xema is the first open-source project of the 3D industrial camera using structured light technology. The mission of the project is to lower the threshold for the application of 3D industrial cameras and reduce the repetitive R&D investment for the whole society. The power of open-source software can not be ignored, which accelerates the booming of the Internet in the last two decades. Vic hopes that the open-source 3D camera project will also help the advancement of 3D machine vision.
Xema —— Open source industrial 3D camera
Xema is to design a low-cost 3D camera that can meet high industrial application standards, especially precision and takt time. Xema 3D camera family includes:
- Xema S submillimeter precision, anti-reflection, suitable for industrial inspection/measurement, high-precision vision, positioning guidance, and other scenarios
- Xema L: submillimeter precision, anti-reflection, suitable for workpiece loading and unloading scenarios at medium and long distances
- Leopa L: millimeter-level precision, fast imaging speed, suitable for depalletizing scenarios with a large field of view
Hardware design:
Powered by NVIDIA Jetson Nano module, Xema is able to run 3D point cloud recognition algorithms and robotic arm control programs. Xema is also equipped with a DLP projector and a CMOS sensor, which enable the camera to perform fast imaging speed and strong anti-ambient light capability. It can generate high-resolution and precision point clouds of various objects such as reflective metal, black carbon fiber, thin cardboard, etc. On the working distance of 60mm, the Z-axis measurement accuracy can reach 50μm.
DexVision 3D: industrial vision software with low code graphical programming
DexVision 3D industrial vision by DexForce team is the software based on Mixed AI, a self-developed new-generation vision algorithm platform. DexVision 3D is easy to use, low in cost, and provides online diagnosis and debugging services, which can meet the disorderly grasping and unpacking of deep frames in industrial automation production stacking and other different job requirements.
Mixed AI platform provides powerful rendering data support and rich algorithm model interfaces for DexVision 3D industrial vision software, thus efficiently and conveniently endowing the vision system with excellent recognition performance and ultra-high versatility. DexVision’s friendly system interface allows automation integrators to easily connect robots and cameras to deploy vision applications. Especially when faced with the production needs of multiple varieties and small batches, customers can quickly import the model trained and output by the Mixed AI platform to the vision system to achieve flexible production change.
Applications of Xema in manufacturing
Xema is ready to boost efficiency and productivity in a range of applications including bin-picking, depalletizing, machine tending, assembly, inspection, and quality control.
Below showcases Xema working in a bin-picking scenario of a leading home appliance company. Several Xema cameras are mounted on the assembly line working with industrial robots to grip bearings, cylinder heads, crankshafts, and other core parts of Air-conditioning compressors from grid-like bins.
One challenge is that metal parts are highly reflective, which makes it difficult to obtain complete and dense point clouds. However, Xema tackles the problem effectively. The solution helps the customer reduce high staff turnover and save labor costs by more than 50%. It is quite impressive that there are only 5 workers on an assembly line now instead of up to 15 workers previously before the upgrade.
Start the next 3D industrial camera with Xema
Now Xema is open-source! DexForce team has been optimizing the design of Xema in practice, and they share their knowledge and experience with those who want to make 3D industrial cameras.
Everyone can join the project to build their own 3D smart camera based on Apache License 2.0. You can download codes of the point cloud reconstruction algorithm, point cloud denoising algorithm or camera calibration algorithm, and prepare all parts of Xema to assemble a prototype camera following the user guide.
Click the link and start your first 3D industrial camera project：https://github.com/Open3DV/Xema
Design with Seeed Fusion, Agile Manufacturing and Hardware Customization
PCBA Service from Seeed Fusion
Seeed Fusion one-stop shop provides Dexforce team with delicate manufacturing advice from 0.1 to 1. Power-efficient with a compact form factor, Jetson Modules brings accelerated AI performance to the Edge. If you are ready to bring your NVIDIA custom design to the next level, Seeed Fusion is there for you. Seeed’s in-house production expertise and direct support from NVIDIA can ensure your NVIDIA Jetson design swiftly transitions from paper to product.
Seeed One Stop ODM Service & Custom Design for NVIDIA Jetson
With decades of ODM & OEM experience, our engineers and product experts are proficient in delivering customization services for popular hardware platforms including NVIDIA Jetson for edge AI and robotics. With Seeed Studio’s customization and manufacturing service, we are ready to bring your product concept to the market with Seeed Studio’s industrial capabilities from design, manufacturing, testing, certification, global distribution, and marketplace. You can discover more details on this Customize Your Own reComputer, Powered by the NVIDIA Jetson Edge AI and Robotics Platform blog.
Seeed’s online ODM service, quickly get online quotations of unit prices, NRE fees, and estimated lead time.
DexForce has spoken highly of the Seeed Fusion Custom PCBA Service!
Seeed Fusion provides an intuitive website interface for partners to acquire useful information. And the required circuit constraints are quite strict, which ensures the quality of board processing to the greatest extent.
Dexforce team
Seeed Fusion Agile Manufacturing & Hardware Customization from 0.1 to ∞
Build your next-gen AI product powered by the NVIDIA Jetson module and bring your product concept to the market with Seeed’s industrial capabilities from design, manufacturing, testing, certification, distribution, and sales. Learn more about manufacturing at Seeed.
Get unrivaled speed and efficiency when you innovate with vast resources in Shenzhen China. Learn more at Seeed Fusion. Send us your project plan today for a quotation.
Seeed ODM Custom Design for NVIDIA Jetson includes:
- Customize your own reComputer with custom carrier board based on J401;
- Image flashing service for reComputer series;
- Customize with your logo on reComputer J30/J40 series.
Seeed NVIDIA Jetson Ecosystem
Seeed is an Elite partner for edge AI in the NVIDIA Partner Network. Explore more carrier boards, full system devices, customization services, use cases, and developer tools on Seeed’s NVIDIA Jetson ecosystem page.
Join the forefront of AI innovation with us! Harness the power of cutting-edge hardware and technology to revolutionize the deployment of machine learning in the real world across industries. Be a part of our mission to provide developers and enterprises with the best ML solutions available.
About Author
