Cognex Enters Into OEM Agreement with FANUC Robotics

Cognex Corp. (Natick, MA), a leading supplier of machine vision systems, announced today it has entered into an OEM agreement with FANUC Robotics North America, a supplier of industrial robots for factory automation. Under the agreement, FANUC Robotics expects to purchase over one million dollars of Cognex machine vision systems over the next two years.

FANUC Robotics will integrate Cognex's PatMax machine vision technology into its new generation of vision-guided robot systems-the Vision Integrator Package (VIP) and visLOC. Cognex's advanced PatMax software enables the systems to recognize and locate parts with high accuracy, despite changes in their angle, size, or appearance. Once located, those parts are then handled by the robot for processing applications, such as palletizing and machine loading.

"We selected Cognex for its high performance PatMax software," says Rick Schneider, president and CE0 of FANUC Robotics (Rochester Hills, MI). "This agreement with Cognex allows FANUC Robotics to expand our robotic application technology, and enables us to offer unparalleled performance to our customers."

"The combination of Cognex's PatMax software with FANUC's robotic system will provide their customers with a highly flexible and precise tool for automating a wide range of manufacturing processes," agrees Dr. Robert J. Shillman, president, CEO and chairman of Cognex. The company has shipped to date more than 85,000 machine vision systems.