Basler and AWS Announce AI Machine Vision Platform

Basler, the international manufacturer of high-quality imaging components for computer vision applications, announces a new AI machine vision platform for industrial applications based on Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) services.

The new machine vision platform allows customers to deploy AI-based applications at the edge for use cases such as quality inspection, site safety, and supply chain efficiency. The new platform contains a Basler camera and edge processing unit with all the necessary accessories and Basler’s pylon Camera Software Suite. It also features a fully integrated edge-to-cloud software stack including the AWS Panorama Device SDK.

The companies say that to enable vision-based machine learning at the edge, manufacturers require a complex integration of hardware, software, and various cloud services to make edge devices functional. These custom systems usually have purpose-built applications and often do not have the flexibility to adopt new use cases. Additionally, industrial manufacturers need a reduction of this complexity and the flexibility of a vision-based platform that can be adapted for various AI/ML models.

Basler’s AI machine vision platform offers to bridge the gap between cloud and edge. It integrates vision edge hardware with cloud services for deploying end-to-end machine learning solutions using proven industrial cameras and edge computing. With the AWS Panorama Device SDK integration, the Basler platform allows customers to leverage a common architecture to address multiple use cases to accommodate a wide range of performance and cost.

The Basler AI machine vision platform will utilize a 5 MP Basler ace camera with GigE interface. It will also include edge computing, featuring the recently released NVIDIA Jetson TX2NX module, that offers 1.33 TFLOPs of AI performance. The machine vision platform will run Basler’s pylon Camera Software Suite, integrated with AWS Panorama, giving customers the flexibility to use Basler’s portfolio of GigE industrial cameras with the new AWS services.

The integration of AWS Panorama enables customers to deploy and run AI/ML applications on edge devices with added support for device management and accuracy monitoring. For example, with Amazon Lookout for Vision, customers can build accurate machine learning models to spot anomalies in visual representations (e.g., product defects) and automate quality inspection.

Basler plans to share more details around product and use cases by Q3 2021. The complete offering will facilitate customers’ efforts to acquire, process, and analyze image data at the edge for low-latency and bandwidth-constrained use cases. Customers wanting to implement the vision platform can also take advantage of Basler’s technical consulting services tailor-made machine vision solutions at the edge.

This partnership follows the recent, open release of Amazon Lookout for Equipment. The announcement opens AWS’ machine-learning software to any customer that wants to perform predictive maintenance on the equipment in their facilities. A joint talk of Basler and AWS will be held at Hannover Messe 2021 Digital Edition this week explaining how the new product works.

In addition to classic area scan and line scan cameras, lenses, frame grabbers, light modules, 3D products, and software, Basler offers embedded vision solutions, that comprise consulting services, customer-specific software development as well as customized products.

For 15 years, Amazon Web Services has provided services to support virtually any cloud workload, and it now has more than 200 fully featured services for computing, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, deployment, and management from 80 Availability Zones (AZs) within 25 geographic regions.

You can find more information about Basler and Amazon Web Services on their respective websites.

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