Braintech: Intelligent Vision

Welcome to our new organization, our new website and the first of my many "conversations" relative to Braintech and the world of vision. While I have yet to confirm it, the reason my blog follows Rick's and Babak's is likely because they were worried that had I gone first I would have exhausted the site's allotted memory. Should you choose to subject yourself, you will soon discover, (and my colleagues, customers and partners will confirm), I sometimes lack brevity - particularly when I think I am right, but who's keeping score. . .

My goal here is to create an open dialogue with those of you who share our interest in, and passion for, using visual information to enhance efficiency, safety and enjoyment as we interact with our environments.

If you have found your way to this blog you undoubtedly realize the robotic revolution taking place in all facets of our life. From the way cars are manufactured and driven, to the protection of our soldiers and their equipment, to the toys that our children play with - and possibly the way many of you no longer vacuum your floors - robots are rapidly "on the rise". Recent entry into this space by Microsoft and the US Government clearly validates the huge opportunity that lies before us. And a recent trip to the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo further enforced this message as industrial robot leaders unanimously agreed that their future growth is tightly linked to the successful addition of intelligence to their robots.

So what does all this have to do with Braintech? It is really quite simple; vision enabled robots and devices are far more capable and exponentially more applicable than blind ones. The ability to locate, recognize, verify, track, inspect, measure and react to imprecise and constantly changing environments takes robotics to a level never before thought possible. Recent increases in camera resolution, computer processing power and vision software prowess - in conjunction with shrinking component sizes and costs equates to an "alignment of the planets" that afford our customers huge win-wins in terms of performance and price. Industrial ROI's have never been better while Military and Consumer segments are witnessing performance levels never before attainable.

As with most emerging technologies, the current marketplace is indeed disparate and fairly fractured. That said, the overwhelming commonality is that there is high growth potential in all segments. This growth will drive new investment and ideas while also initiating standardization, and Braintech is well positioned for both parts of this next phase. An example is our recent announcement regarding Random Bin Picking. Anyone who has walked through a manufacturing or distribution facility knows that there typically exists hundreds of components shipped in bulk that are manually picked by human operators that then perform some function with those components. The reason the operator is there is usually because it is more expensive (and previous attempts at automation do not work well) to automate feeding the line or process with a single part at a time out of a bulk container. The introduction of visual and robotic Random Bin Picking solves this very problem - and we are currently working with two of the worlds most respected manufacturing companies to properly validate this "Holy Grail" of vision science for specific applications on their factory floors. And with regard to standardization, the Random Bin Picking technology resides within our already existing and award winning eVisionFactory software platform, right next to our Single Camera 3D, AutoCal and other portfolio solutions.

So our mission at Braintech is clear. We intend to be the global leader of vision software solutions and expertise in the industrial, government and consumer markets. We feel strongly that we have the new leadership, core team, existing product portfolio and R&D activities in place to do so. And we are in the process of expanding on our core to meet rising market demand. We are concurrently in hot pursuit of new customers and partners in several market segments, and look forward to discussing opportunities to collaborate in greater detail. Feel free to contact me at any time at 248 219 9400 with any questions or comments. It is my commitment that our team will reach out and touch both current and potential partners and customers like never before, and we look forward to meeting you along the way.

And finally, to feed off of Rick (who I can assure you enjoys his tunes one way: loud), my video music proposal involves our Volts-IQ Situational Awareness Technology video - and the song that thankfully ended the disco revolution (apologies to you Bee Gees fans), Thunder Road. Check out the video. If you're a bad guy in the sights of the Hummer, the title fits like a glove.

Thanks for tuning in.
Regards,

Jim Dara
Senior Vice President/General Manager
Braintech Industrial Inc. - Intelligent Vision
248 219 9400