Jack of All Trades, Master of Some – 5 Most Important Skills to Look for in a Machine Vision Engineer

March 6, 2018

There’s no doubt about it – the Machine Vision Industry is poised to grow. It’s valued at 9.10 billion USD in 2016 and $19.22 billion by 2025.  It’s clear that demand for Machine Vision Engineers is growing proportionally in order to handle this growth.

What exactly constitutes being a “Machine Vision Engineer”?  Machine Vision is a big umbrella that is very hard to specifically – and inclusively – describe.  This is partially due to the wide applications that Machine Vision can be used for:  from industrial manufacturing use to security to autonomous vehicles, which happens to use very similar skill sets but applied in very different ways.

For Keox Technologies, a good Machine Vision Engineer possesses the following skills, in no real particular order:

  • Optics – this is obvious, since the technology is based on computer imaging and analysis. It is crucial knowing the practical differences of camera models and which lenses to pair for the application, designing the optimal setup within restrictions placed by the application, necessary tradeoffs to get the best performance possible, etc.
  • Computer Engineering – knowing how to best communicate to the camera and acquire images, process and analyze images quickly, manage memory, storing and communicating results, etc. are all essential in having the Machine Vision System robustly perform.
  • Image Processing / Signal Processing – how does one get the info needed from the image once it is acquired? How does one deal with noisy images, image distortions, shadows, and all other imperfect image artifacts?  This is a large body of knowledge in of itself.
  • Project Management – beyond managing the triangle of time, budget, and scope, project management is included as an important skill to have because it ensures that the project is executed robustly and with clear focus. The analogy I like to use is that of a Conductor in an Orchestra – it’s possible that the Orchestra can play without a Conductor but good luck in having the whole orchestra be coordinated and playing it with a coherent expression.
  • Subject Matter Expert of the Application Topic – fact is, the field of Machine Vision is very wide and very deep. Color Inspection?  There are a lot of subtleties within that industry.  Medical Application?  Make sure the correct practices are used.  Defect detection?  How to best classify and eliminate Type I and Type II errors!

Developing and mastering these skills is challenging and time-consuming.

Keox Technologies has the experience, the required skills, and expertise to handle your Machine Vision project and ultimately – making sure the project and system design is executed successfully.

This saves you time and money and allowing your direct hires to learn from the experience and shorten the time for them to become a profitable contributor.