Machine vision, a growing market driven by industrial and automation applications

“The displacement of CCD by CIS has favored volume growth of the machine vision market”. asserts Richard Liu, Technology and Market Analyst in the Photonics, Sensing & Display division at Yole Intelligence, part of Yole Group . “This greatly simplifies the complexity of the industrial cameras. Compact cameras, including smart cameras, can more easily be developed and are more suitable for use in various industrial environments”.

Indeed, Yole expects the global industrial camera market to expand from US$3.6 billion in 2020 to US$5.5 billion in 2026, at 7.4% CAGR.

In this context, Yole investigates disruptive technologies and related markets in order to point out the latest innovations and underline the business opportunities.
Released today, the Machine Vision for Industry and Automation 2021 report includes market trends and forecasts, supply chain, technology trends, technical insights and analysis, take away and outlook. This study also delivers an in-depth understanding of the ecosystem and main players’ strategies at camera and image sensor level.
What are the economic and technological challenges of the machine vision for industry and automation applications? What are the key drivers? Who are the key players to watch, and what innovative technologies are they working on?
Yole presents today its vision of the machine vision for industry and automation.

As analyzed by Yole’s team in the new Machine Vision for Industry and Automation 2021 report, Yole estimates that CIS now account for over 86% of the industrial camera market. The development of other imaging modalities such as 3D technology and multi-spectral imaging in industrial cameras promotes diversification in the application of machine vision in the industry, the penetration of new technologies will therefore increase further. In a virtuous circle scenario, the applications for machine vision products are becoming more extensive. This behind-the-scenes technology further promotes the overall development of consumer electronics manufacturing, automotive manufacturing and other manufacturing industries, while improving manufacturing accuracy, meaning that the demand for machine vision technology will continue to increase. Each country and region’s upgrading of industry, including Industry 4.0, will greatly accelerate the development of automation and promote the development of machine vision.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated e-commerce dominance which heavily rely on logistic automation.
According to Pierre Cambou, Principal Analyst in the Photonics and Sensing Division at Yole: “Furthermore, in the context of robotization of industrial and logistic processes vision guided robots also have a card to play. Be the inspection, counting, positioning, or picking for example, a rising impulse for their adoption leads the robotic industry and the subsequent machine vision market to even further heights”.
Autonomous vehicles are capable of sensing their environment and operating without human involvement. And that’s not just passenger cars, but other autonomous vehicles, such as logistics trucks, and all kinds of autonomous moving tools that require multiple vision cameras to recognize surrounding objects. These products are driven by machines instead of human beings, which will be revolutionary and will further develop the market for machine vision. Yole estimates that the cameras in this area will become a significant segment reaching US$211 million in 2026 with a CAGR of 43%.