With attendance figures up by more than 17% compared to 2017, the UKIVA Machine Vision Conference and Exhibition held recently in Milton Keynes is going from strength to strength.
The Conference was really well attended throughout the day while exhibitors reported a steady stream of visitors who showed real interest in the products and services on show with a real desire to find ways of solving their application needs. In addition, the two keynote presentations highlighted how vision has made a significant contribution to the development of two very different types of autonomous vehicle. Professor Tony Pipe, Deputy Director at Bristol Robotics Laboratory, UWE talked about the Venturer autonomous car project, while Henry Harris-Burland, VP Marketing at Starship Technologies, concentrated on the development and deployment of small, self-driving personal delivery robot vehicles (two of which were in action during the show).
Creating a learning environment
The major focus of this event is to create a learning environment. The comprehensive Conference program was designed to provide a diverse range of content which would meet the needs of visitors new to vision through to highly experienced practitioners in the subject. The program was divided into 7 different themes in individual presentation theatres and all of these attracted a good level of attendance throughout the day. With business being an important part of the event, there was still plenty of time to explore the exhibition which was located in the same hall. More than 50 exhibitors put on an impressive display of the latest vision technologies and services currently available. Perhaps most importantly, visitors, presenters and exhibitors came together to create an environment where knowledge could be shared, real world needs could be properly discussed, solution ideas proposed and business relationships begun and reinforced. For visitors it was the chance to see a host of manufacturers, distributors and systems integrators under one roof.
Significant interest in deep learning
Deep learning and machine learning have been major topics of discussion recently in the world of industrial vision. This event provided a platform for visitors to find out much more about how they work, what they work best for and to see some actual applications. It therefore came as no surprise that the deep learning and machine learning presentations enjoyed the highest attendances of the day apart from the Keynote talks. The presentations explained some of the different algorithms available for these methods of object feature recognition and classification and there was the chance to investigate their commercial availability in the exhibition.
Success breeds success
UKIVA is delighted with the outcome of the meeting. Event organiser, Chris Valdes, said: “We feel that the event is going from strength to strength and has established itself as a platform for business. Visitor numbers were up compared to last year and people from many different market sectors came along. We attracted exhibitors from all over the world who are keen to tap into the UK vision market. Everybody we have spoken to has commented on the vibrancy and ‘feel’ of the event and that the visitors clearly really wanted to be there and make the most of everything that was on offer. We plan to carry this ‘feel good’ factor through to the next UKIVA event.”
