Industrial Microscopes in the Automation Industry

Industrial microscopes are being used in the automation industry to speed up inspection, analysis, and quality assurance processes for a broad range of objects and surfaces. In one fully-automated example, a six-axis robotic arm "feeds" samples to a variety of industrial microscopes in a sequence so that all systems can be used simultaneously. This in turn produces measurements and high resolution imagery of both finished and incomplete products that may not pass crucial inspection before moving to the next step in the process.

In other examples, microscopes are automated to produce high resolution images of pathology samples for molecular diagnostics and cytometry, enhancing and automating the workflow of investigators in the pathology laboratory. In some labs, automated microscopes are used to capture live-cell imagery and are especially useful for acquiring images in time-lapse experiments over set periods of time.

Using industrial microscopes in the automation industry, you can benefit from:

• Reproducible methods for exact positioning of specimens.
• Automated processes that move the stage and focus on specimens.
• Microscopy software can capture images for analysis or reporting.
• Measuring items that will not fit within one field of view.
• Switching from a variety of dedicated equipment to one multi-function tool for automated microscopy, digital imaging, measurements, image analysis and reporting.
• produce reports from high-resolution samples.
• High-resolution overviews for the inspection process.

Automated microscopy can sometimes allow you to trade in your optical comparator, metrology inspection station, toolmaker's microscope, or dedicated image processing station for an automated industrial microscope that can do the job of several tools as well as several individuals.