Artificial vision guides car assembly

Artificial vision technology originally developed to help ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle dock with the International Space Station is being applied to the automobile sector. Objection-recognition cameras equipped with tracking software help to synchronise the movement of robot manipulators with car modules moving along automated assembly lines. Developed by MDU Space, an alumnus of ESA’s Noordwijk Business Incubation Centre, the system is used by Volkswagen’s Autoeuropa factory in Palmela, Portugal.