Cognex Corporation

Last updated
Cognex Corporation
Company type Public
Nasdaq:  CGNX
S&P 400 Component
IndustryIndustrial automation (hardware and software)
Founded1981;43 years ago (1981)
Headquarters
Natick, Massachusetts
,
United States
Key people
ProductsVision Systems, Vision Sensors, Vision Software, ID Readers
Revenue$876 million USD (2020)
Number of employees
2000
Website www.cognex.com

Cognex Corporation is an American manufacturer of machine vision systems, software and sensors used in automated manufacturing to inspect and identify parts, detect defects, verify product assembly, and guide assembly robots. Cognex is headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, USA and has offices in more than 20 countries.

Contents

Cognex began exploring commercial applications of machine vision in the early 1980s. [1] In the 1990s, Cognex's business grew due to a demand for machine vision tools to help automate semiconductor and electronics manufacturing. While semiconductor manufacturing remains an important market for Cognex, it has expanded to general manufacturing applications. [2]

The company's product portfolio includes In-Sight, VisionPro software, and DataMan. [3]

History

Cognex Corporation was founded in 1981 by Robert J. Shillman, a lecturer in human visual perception at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and two MIT graduate students, Bill Silver and Marilyn Matz. [4] Cognex stands for "Cognition Experts." [5]

The company's first vision system, DataMan, was introduced in 1982. DataMan was an optical character recognition (OCR) system designed to read, verify, and assure the quality of letters, numbers, and symbols printed on products and components. The company's first customer was a typewriter manufacturer that purchased DataMan to read letters on typewriter keys and ensure that they were located in the correct position.

In 1989, Cognex went public on the NASDAQ exchange for $1.38 per share—within a year, the stock price had tripled. [6]

In 1995, Cognex purchased Acumen, a U.S. based developer of wafer identification systems.

In 2004, the company won an intellectual property victory when a federal judge ruled in Cognex's favor in a patent lawsuit brought against the estate of the inventor Jerome H. Lemelson, who had filed dozens of submarine patents, some of which purported to cover machine vision processes. The machine vision-related patents were held invalid. [7] [8] [9] [10] The ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. [11]

Cognex sold off its in-vehicle product in 2007, citing concerns about profitability and intellectual property issues.

In 2015 Cognex sold off its Surface Vision Division and the associated range of products SmartView (web inspection), Vision Gear (slit inspection), Smart Advisor (process surveillance, web monitoring) and VisionPro Surface to Ametek Inc. for approximately 160M US$. The sold division represented about 12% of Cognex in terms of revenue and number of employees. [12]

In April 2017 Cognex acquired ViDi Systems, a Swiss-based provider of deep learning software for industrial machine vision applications. [13] In October 2019 Cognex acquired Sualab, a Korean-based developer of vision software using deep learning for industrial applications. [14]

During summer 2020 Cognex laid off 8% of its headcount (190 employees). [15] In December 2020 Cognex announced payment of $2 dividend per share. [16] In the press release explaining this special dividend [17] the chairman, Robert J. Shillman, referred to one of the company's mottos, to explain the highest dividend paid out in the company's history. This motto being: “When Cognex wins, we all win”. [17]

On February 11, 2021, Cognex announced the resignation of Robert Shillman from the company's board of directors and as an executive officer of Cognex, effective May 5, 2021. [18]

Products

Some of the products produced by Cognex are:

Related Research Articles

Computer vision tasks include methods for acquiring, processing, analyzing and understanding digital images, and extraction of high-dimensional data from the real world in order to produce numerical or symbolic information, e.g. in the forms of decisions. Understanding in this context means the transformation of visual images into descriptions of the world that make sense to thought processes and can elicit appropriate action. This image understanding can be seen as the disentangling of symbolic information from image data using models constructed with the aid of geometry, physics, statistics, and learning theory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Machine vision</span> Technology and methods used to provide imaging-based automatic inspection and analysis

Machine vision (MV) is the technology and methods used to provide imaging-based automatic inspection and analysis for such applications as automatic inspection, process control, and robot guidance, usually in industry. Machine vision refers to many technologies, software and hardware products, integrated systems, actions, methods and expertise. Machine vision as a systems engineering discipline can be considered distinct from computer vision, a form of computer science. It attempts to integrate existing technologies in new ways and apply them to solve real world problems. The term is the prevalent one for these functions in industrial automation environments but is also used for these functions in other environment vehicle guidance.

Jerome "Jerry" Hal Lemelson was an American engineer, inventor, and patent holder. Several of his inventions telate to warehouses, industrial robots, cordless telephones, fax machines, videocassette recorders, camcorders, and the magnetic tape drive. Lemelson's 605 patents made him one of the most prolific inventors in American history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Instruments</span> American multinational company

National Instruments Corporation, doing business as NI, is an American multinational company with international operation. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it is a producer of automated test equipment and virtual instrumentation software. Common applications include data acquisition, instrument control and machine vision. Since October 2023, NI operates as Emerson Electric's test and measurement business unit after getting acquired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Automatix</span> Early robotics and machine vision company

Automatix Inc., founded in January 1980, was the first company to market industrial robots with built-in machine vision. Its founders were Victor Scheinman, inventor of the Stanford arm; Phillippe Villers, Michael Cronin, and Arnold Reinhold of Computervision; Jake Dias and Dan Nigro of Data General; Gordon VanderBrug, of NBS, Donald L. Pieper of General Electric and Norman Wittels of Clark University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikon</span> Japanese multinational corporation that specializes in optics

Nikon Corporation is a Japanese optics and photographic equipment manufacturer headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group.

Teledyne DALSA is a Canadian company specializing in the design and manufacture of specialized electronic imaging components as well as specialized semiconductor fabrication. Teledyne DALSA is part of the Teledyne Imaging group, the leading-edge imaging companies aligned under the Teledyne umbrella.

Fullpower is a Santa Cruz, California-based privately held developer of cloud-based IoT and wearable product technology used for activity tracking and sleep monitoring. Fullpower specializes in wireless technology, microelectromechanical systems, and nanotechnology. The company holds over 125 patents for its intellectual property, which it licenses to manufacturers.

OmniVision Technologies Inc. is an American subsidiary of Chinese semiconductor device and mixed-signal integrated circuit design house Will Semiconductor. The company designs and develops digital imaging products for use in mobile phones, laptops, netbooks and webcams, security and surveillance cameras, entertainment, automotive and medical imaging systems. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, OmniVision Technologies has offices in the US, Western Europe and Asia.

A vision-guided robot (VGR) system is basically a robot fitted with one or more cameras used as sensors to provide a secondary feedback signal to the robot controller to more accurately move to a variable target position. VGR is rapidly transforming production processes by enabling robots to be highly adaptable and more easily implemented, while dramatically reducing the cost and complexity of fixed tooling previously associated with the design and set up of robotic cells, whether for material handling, automated assembly, agricultural applications, life sciences, and more.

Optical sorting is the automated process of sorting solid products using cameras and/or lasers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert J. Shillman</span> American businessman

Robert "Bob" Shillman is an American businessman, electrical engineer, and philanthropist. He is the founder and former chairman and CCO of Cognex Corporation. Cognex is a provider of machine vision systems, sensors, and industrial ID readers used in automated manufacturing. Shillman holds a B.S.E.E. from Northeastern University as well as an M.S.E.E. and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xylem Inc.</span> American water technology provider company

Xylem Inc. is a large American water technology provider, in public utility, residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial settings. The company does business in more than 150 countries. Launched in 2011 as the spinoff of the water-related businesses of ITT Corporation, Xylem is headquartered in Washington, DC, with 2018 revenues of $5.2 billion and 17,000 employees worldwide.

Taylor Hobson is an English company founded in 1886 and located in Leicester, England. Originally a manufacturer of still camera and cine lenses, the company now manufactures precision metrology instruments—in particular, profilometers for the analysis of surface textures and forms.

AMETEK, Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate and global designer and manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices with headquarters in the United States and over 220 sites worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mettler Toledo</span> Multinational manufacturer of scales and analytical instruments

Mettler Toledo is a multinational manufacturer of scales and analytical instruments. It is the largest provider of weighing instruments for use in laboratory, industrial, and food retailing applications. The company also provides various analytical instruments, process analytics instruments, and end-of-line inspection systems. The company operates worldwide with 70% of net sales, derived in equal parts, from Europe and from the Americas. Asian business is included in the remaining 30%. Mettler Toledo is headquartered in Switzerland and incorporated in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathan Oostendorp</span> American businessman

Nathan Oostendorp is an American technologist, author, and entrepreneur. He is from Holland, Michigan and is a co-founder of the technology news website and community Slashdot and founder of the online community Everything2.

The machine translation of sign languages has been possible, albeit in a limited fashion, since 1977. When a research project successfully matched English letters from a keyboard to ASL manual alphabet letters which were simulated on a robotic hand. These technologies translate signed languages into written or spoken language, and written or spoken language to sign language, without the use of a human interpreter. Sign languages possess different phonological features than spoken languages, which has created obstacles for developers. Developers use computer vision and machine learning to recognize specific phonological parameters and epentheses unique to sign languages, and speech recognition and natural language processing allow interactive communication between hearing and deaf people.

Zivid is a Norwegian machine vision technology company headquartered in Oslo, Norway. It designs and sells 3D color cameras with vision software that are used in autonomous industrial robot cells, collaborative robot (cobot) cells and other industrial automation systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seoul Robotics</span> South Korean 3D software company

Seoul Robotics is a software company based in Seoul, South Korea. The company was founded in 2017 by HanBin Lee. Seoul Robotics creates 3D vision software for LiDAR and other sensing technologies. Its software is used for applications in fields such as autonomous vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems, smart manufacturing, construction, logistics, and smart cities. Notable partners of Seoul Robotics include BMW, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Mando, and Qualcomm.

References

  1. ↑ "Tax cut plan will give big growth boost to automation companies". www.digitaljournal.com. 2017-10-06. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  2. ↑ "Company History | Cognex". www.cognex.com. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "CGNX Profile | Cognex Corporation Stock - Yahoo Finance". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
  4. ↑ "CGNX - Cognex Corp Company Profile - CNNMoney.com". money.cnn.com. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
  5. ↑ "Company History". Cognex Corporation. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  6. ↑ "Cognex - Company History". Cognex. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  7. ↑ "USATODAY.com - Some claim inventor Lemelson a fraud". usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  8. ↑ United States District Court District of Nevada CV-S-01-701-PMP, January 23, 2004
  9. ↑ "U.S. Judge Invalidates Billion-Dollar Scan Patents (Update1) - Bloomberg". Bloomberg News . 2012-10-25. Archived from the original on 2012-10-25. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
  10. ↑ Riordan, Teresa (2004-02-02). "Patents; As shown by recent cases argued in the courts, properly crediting an inventor can be murky business". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-01-20.
  11. ↑ United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 04-1451, Symbol Technologies, Inc. et al. v. Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation, LP Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine , September 9, 2005
  12. ↑ "Cognex agrees to sell Surface Inspection Systems Division to AMETEK, Inc". June 2015.
  13. ↑ "Cognex adds deep learning expertise with ViDi Systems acquisition | Imaging and Machine Vision Europe". www.imveurope.com. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  14. ↑ "Cognex announces Sualab acquisition=1=30 October 2019".
  15. ↑ CFA, Evan Niu (2020-05-29). "Why Cognex Stock Plunged Today". The Motley Fool. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  16. ↑ "Cognex Declares Very Special Cash Dividend of $2 Per Share". www.businesswire.com. 2020-12-03. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  17. 1 2 "Cognex Declares Very Special Cash Dividend of $2 Per Share". investor.cognex.com. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  18. ↑ "Cognex Chairman and Founder, Dr. Robert J. Shillman, to Resign". BusinessWire. 2021-02-11.
  19. ↑ "Improving Vision with Deep Learning".
  20. ↑ "Industrial Vision Sensors: From Humble Beginnings To Amazing Capabilities". Design World. 2018-02-08. Retrieved 2022-04-25.

42°18′08″N71°21′19″W / 42.30213°N 71.35534°W / 42.30213; -71.35534

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.