Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided which analyzes an image of an object to detect and identify defects in the object utilizing multi-dimensional wavelet neural networks.

Abstract: A hybrid surface mount component inspection system which includes both vision and infrared inspection techniques to determine the presence of surface mount components on a printed wiring board, and the quality of solder joints of surface mount components on printed wiring boards by using data level sensor fusion to combine data from two infrared sensors to obtain emissivity independent thermal signatures of solder joints, and using feature level sensor fusion with active perception to assemble and process inspection information from any number of sensors to determine characteristic feature sets of different defect classes to classify solder defects.

Abstract: A hybrid surface mount component inspection system which includes both vision and infrared inspection techniques to determine the presence of surface mount components on a printed wiring board, and the quality of solder joints of surface mount components on printed wiring boards by using data level sensor fusion to combine data from two infrared sensors to obtain emissivity independent thermal signatures of solder joints, and using feature level sensor fusion with active perception to assemble and process inspection information from any number of sensors to determine characteristic feature sets of different defect classes to classify solder defects.

Abstract: An automated system and associated method of counting pillings in textile fabrics. Images of consecutive sections of a fabric sample are captured by a CCD camera. A system processor then processes the images to enhance image quality. Pillings on the processed, captured fabric sample images are counted, and the resulting data is fuzzified to determine the membership of the data in one or more of a plurality of fabric classes. The present invention provides an objective rating system and method with repeatable accuracy for fabric samples that eliminates the inherent subjectivity associated with conventional manual visual fabric inspection methods.

Abstract: The Invention includes a method and apparatus which analyzes an image of an object to detect and identify defects in the object. The present invention utilizes a scanning technique which converts a 2-D image of the object into a 1-D image, a transformation technique which extracts relevant features from the image, and a fuzzy inferencing technique which utilizes the features generated by the transformation technique to detect and identify defects. The present invention preferably includes an off-line learning process which selects the optimum transform coefficients for a given set of defects and stores the corresponding features in a rulebase. Preferably, the wavelet transform is used as the transformation technique to provide an analysis of the image which is localized in the frequency and time domains. The present invention may also include an on-line learning process when the present invention is incorporated into a manufacturing process for real time inspection of the object being manufactured.

Abstract: Information is encoded on tags preferably in a form emulating conventional bar coding, in which ferromagnetic strips correspond to bars and nonferromagnetic spaces correspond to the absence of bars. The tags thus can be embedded within an article or otherwise concealed from visual scanning or inspection. The tags are read by scanning with a magnetic reader including an excitation coil and a pickup coil. Relative movement between the tags and the scanner induces a signal in the pickup coil only when a bar is scanned, so that the phase and timing of the induced signals contain information corresponding to the relative placement and width of the ferromagnetic bars and strips. Those signals are processed to provide an output signal emulating the output from a conventional optical bar code scanner.

Abstract: A spherical motor particularly adapted for robotic control. The motor comprises a stator housing defining a semispherical socket having an opening of generally polar cap form with a spherical rotor rotatably received in the socket for rotation therein about three axes intersecting at the center of the rotor with one of the axes projecting through the opening and the other two axes being orthogonal thereto. A motion transmitter is carried by the rotor and aligned generally along one axis to project through the opening, and windings are carried by the stator housing in encompassing and in opposed relation to the rotor for rotating the rotor about the axis. A polyphase control selectively controls relative phase and energization of the windings to rotate the spherical rotor a substantially unlimited amount about one axis and in limited amounts about the other axes so as to maintain the motion transmitting member within the confines of the opening.