Glossary · Machine vision
TwinCAT Vision (Beckhoff)
Also known as: Beckhoff TwinCAT Vision
German: TwinCAT Vision
In industrial automation, TwinCAT Vision is Beckhoff's image processing product that integrates machine vision into the TwinCAT 3 automation software, so that camera configuration is done in the engineering environment and image processing functions are called from the PLC program in the real-time runtime.
- Machine vision
- Vendor product
In one sentence
TwinCAT Vision is Beckhoff's machine vision integrated into TwinCAT 3, with image processing called from the PLC program.
Example
The PLC program calls TwinCAT Vision functions to locate a part in the camera image and passes the position directly to the motion control axes.
How it applies
- Engineering: Integrating vision into the PLC environment keeps image processing and control in one program and one time base, which simplifies synchronization with motion. Cameras are connected via standard interfaces such as GigE Vision. Machine learning functions and other image processing libraries may require additional licenses.
- Commissioning: Camera setup and calibration are done in the engineering tool; PLC programmers need image processing knowledge, which changes the skill mix of the team.
- Documentation: The documentation team should document the vision functions used in the PLC code, camera configurations, calibration data and software versions, and include vision in the backup and restore procedure of the controller.
Keep in mind: Product names, licenses and features change. Check every statement against the vendor's current documentation before publishing.