Interactive image analysis as a prototyping tool for industrial inspection

Abstract

The application of an interactive image-analysis system (Susie) is demonstrated on a variety of tasks in automatic visual inspection, including: (a) the existential inspection and pitch measurement of female screw threads; (b) checking, the legibility of printing on tablets; (c) the enhancement of visibility of industrial radiographs; (d) detecting defects on polished metal surfaces(hydraulics cylinder bores and bright, extruded copper bars); (e) analysing the texture of machined metal surfaces; (f) locating the ends of fibrelike objects (asbestos) viewed under a microscope, as a prelude to counting them or measuring their lengths; and (g) counting, sorting and recognising defects in pressed artefacts, strewn haphazardly onto a table. Susie is ideally suited for evaluating such problems and for prototyping special-purpose visual-inspection systems. It is easy to learn to use Susie and, given suitable optics, an experienced image analyst can very quickly understand the nature of the pictures he is given and develop a suitable strategy for processing them.