OMRON Corporation (HQ: Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto; President and CEO: Yoshihito Yamada) announced today that on August 5 it will globally launch the PCB inspection system "VT-S10 Series," which features an industry-first imaging technique and AI to automate the high-precision inspection process for electronic substrates, thus eliminating the need for specialist skills. As the inspection of in-vehicle electronic substrates becomes increasingly difficult with the growing needs for the fifth-generation mobile communication system (5G), electric vehicles (EVs), and autonomous driving, this new offering from OMRON performs high-precision inspection of such key components to maintain and enhance their quality, thus contributing to the security and safety of our society.

In recent years, the demand for electronic substrates for 5G, EVs, and autonomous driving has grown rapidly, which in turn is raising the quality requirements of substrates, since these applications involve risks to human lives. As substrates become more dense and miniaturized, inspection becomes more challenging, with the result that conventional PCB inspection systems struggle to take an accurate image of solder shapes, which limits the scope and parameters of inspection. Meanwhile, on production floors, amid the growing shortage of skilled workforce and human power in general, workers are required to avoid congestion and close contact and to limit their movement as they work to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It has thus become urgent to reduce the frequency of visual inspections and lower the experience and skill requirements for setting and starting up automated inspection equipment, in addition to advancing inspection accuracy.

Equipped with OMRON's proprietary MDMC (Multi-Direction Multi-Color) imaging technique, the VT-S10 Series automatically optimizes irradiation angles, colors, and light intensity of illumination during inspection of substrates according to characteristics such as the shapes of electronic components and soldering` on the substrates, thus reducing the human-hours required for set up by approximately 70%.*2 Furthermore, with the assistance of AI that has been taught the imaging knowhow OMRON has accumulated over more than 30 years in the field of automated inspection, as well as knowledge in solder inspection, this PCB inspection system is capable of automating inspections that have hitherto had to rely on human senses, significantly improving inspection accuracy.

Under the banner of the strategic concept "innovative-Automation," which consists of the "three i’s," namely, "integrated (evolution in control)," "intelligent (intelligence developed through ICT)," and "interactive (new harmonization between humans and machines)," OMRON is driving innovations on the production floor. Through the integration of the widest range of control devices and the use of AI fully versed in solder inspection, the VT-S10 Series is the latest offering from OMRON that embodies the "innovative-Automation" concept. Going forward, we will continue evolving production floors hand in hand with customers. By expanding the scope and parameters for automated inspection, we hope to free operators from simple, monotonous work so that they can engage in more creative work, which we believe ultimately contributes to the security and safety of our society.

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