Architecture choice
The application decides, not the brand. Use this framework to choose the architecture that fits takt, variation, ownership and how tightly vision must couple to your PLC or robot.
All-in-one: sensor, processing, and often optics and lighting in one housing. Built for standardised tasks, OCR, barcodes, positioning, missing-part checks, with fast commissioning and less infrastructure. Smart-camera applications →
Industrial PC, high-speed or high-resolution cameras, specialised optics, lighting and software, engineered per requirement for high-precision, high-complexity jobs such as robotic picking, subtle defect detection and high-speed sorting. PC-based vision →
Decision framework
Walk these before you buy cameras. If three or more push toward PC-based, do not force a smart camera to “keep it simple”.
| Criterion | Favours smart | Favours PC-based |
|---|---|---|
| Cycle time & reject coupling | Pass/fail can wait tens of ms; station is self-contained | Result must drive motion in the same hard real-time loop, or multi-axis sync |
| Task variation | Stable SKUs, fixed defects, known codes/poses | High appearance variation, new defect classes, frequent recipe change |
| Compute & AI | On-board tools / light DL are enough | GPU, multi-model, heavy 3D or custom algorithms |
| Cameras & FOVs | One view, one job | Multi-camera, line-scan + area, shared calibration |
| Ownership | Operators tweak recipes in a GUI | Your software team owns the vision module long-term |
| Space & infra | Need compact, decentralised nodes | Cabinet space and industrial networking already exist |
| Scale of uniqueness | Same job repeats across lines | One-off high-performance machine function |
Typical fit
Patterns from industrial projects, not absolute rules.
| Application | Often smart | Often PC-based |
|---|---|---|
| Code reading / OCR / presence | Smart reader or smart camera | PC when codes are extreme or fused with other inspections |
| Assembly / missing part | Smart camera | PC when many variants or tight gauging |
| Surface defect grading | Smart only if defects are crisp & few | PC + classical or AI when variation is high |
| Robot pick & place | Simple 2D locate on smart | PC / 3D when pose variation or bin picking |
| High-speed sorting | , | PC-based with matched optics & lighting |
| OEM machine module | Smart if the job is standard | PC + stable SDK when vision is core IP |
Select the stack for your part and takt. Detect reliably under real line conditions. Control the result into PLC, robot or reject, with the engagement model that fits your team.
Camera, optics, lighting and software matched as one stack, application first, brand second.
Commissioning and validation on real samples, not brochure specs.
Signals, logging and operator UI that your machine can live with.
We will tell you honestly when a smart camera is enough, and when PC-based is the architecture that will hold.