(Vision Engineering: Surrey, UK) -- Vision Engineering Ltd. has developed Hawk, a noncontact measurement system that is the first to offer both a true optical image display combined with fully-automatic video edge detection. Both of these technologies have been available individually but never before as a combined package.

Hawk can be run manually, motorized, or in fully automatic mode. For rapid product changeover, manual operation allows for quick setup in any measurement task. For high-volume throughput, automation allows repeated, objective inspection much faster than manual measurement. In between these extremes, there are a host of application areas that benefit from partial automation (e.g., where components cannot be automatically checked or where product variety makes multiple measurement routines impractical). Hawk allows both techniques to be used in one system, and this opens up many opportunities where, previously, either technology alone would have been insufficient.

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