3D Camera Captures Large Volumes in Short Time

The Ensenso N-Series is a compact and robust 3D camera system designed specifically for 3D applications in robotics and automated series production. IP65/67 protection allows use in harsher environments being effectively protected against dirt, dust and water spray. The camera family is now being expanded by the new N40 and N45 models. They feature a novel design both inside and outside and open up new application possibilities, for example in collaborative robotics.

Designed specifically for use in rough environmental conditions the N-Series is equally suitable for 3D detection of moving and stationary objects in a space-saving stationary or mobile application on a robot arm. Even under difficult lighting conditions, the integrated projector projects a high-contrast texture onto the object using a pattern mask with a random dot pattern, thus filing in the structures that are not present or only weakly present on the object’s surface. All cameras are pre-calibrated and therefore easy to set up.

The housing of the new Ensenso N40/N45 3D cameras is made of fibre-reinforced plastic resulting in extremely light stereo vision cameras with Gigabit Ethernet.. When mounted on a robot arm this means less stress on the robot mechanics. The cameras also minimise the risk of
injury thanks to their rounded edges. As a result, they also excel in collaborative use with human colleagues.

Electronics have also been revised for the new 3D cameras: The improved infrared projector enables higher light output and has an optimised heat management. This results provide better data quality or higher clock rates. The projector is optionally available with blue illumination in the visible range (465 nm) or with infrared illumination (850 nm).

The new models each include two monochrome CMOS sensors (global shutter, 1280 x 1024 pixels) and are equipped with screwable GPIO connectors for trigger and flash. Power-over-Ethernet allows data transfer and power supply to be realised even over long cable distances.

A new stereo matching process, available as standard for all models when using the Ensenso SDK 3.0, also ensures particularly detailed point clouds. “PatchMatch” works extremely effectively with a large distance range at different object distances and without significant effects on the execution speed of the algorithm. This benefits applications in which large volumes are to be captured in the shortest possible time.

For more information: www.ids-imaging.com