packing — part_count (yolox-line-count)
Physics
Section titled “Physics”A fixed overhead or side-mounted industrial camera frames the full width of the packing line and runs a yolox object-detection model per frame; a virtual counting line (CountLine, defined in normalized image coordinates per the vision contracts) is drawn across the line’s travel direction, and the detector counts a part once its tracked bounding-box centroid crosses that line in the configured direction. Unlike a single photo-eye beam, per-frame detection tolerates occlusion, variable spacing, and multiple lanes because each part is individually localized before the crossing test, not just sensed as “something broke a beam.” The lens field-of-view is set so the full line width fills the frame at the camera’s working distance, keeping each part’s apparent size large enough for reliable detection; a ring light mounted coaxially with the lens kills specular glare off shrink-wrap and cartons and keeps exposure stable under strobing plant lighting. At a line speed of up to 60 cartons/min with a minimum gap of 150 mm at 0.3 m/s belt speed, a carton’s dwell time in frame is ~0.5 s; running the camera at 30 fps gives ~15 frames per carton, comfortably above the minimum of 2-3 frames needed to confirm a line crossing without double- or missed-counting. Camera is mounted perpendicular to the line’s travel direction to avoid motion blur and perspective distortion of the virtual line’s position.
Sensor
Section titled “Sensor”- Spec: industrial GigE/PoE area-scan camera with fixed-focal C-mount lens and coaxial LED ring light, global shutter
- Signal: counter ({count}), range n/a
Example parts
Section titled “Example parts”- Basler ace 2 a2A1920-51gcPRO GigE area-scan camera (1920x1200, global shutter, PoE)
- Teledyne FLIR Blackfly S BFS-PGE-16S2C-CS GigE PoE camera with 8mm C-mount lens
- Advanced Illumination RL1550 LED ring light (coaxial, machine-vision, white)
Mounting
Section titled “Mounting”Mount the camera on a rigid overhead or side bracket directly above or perpendicular to the packing line’s travel direction, at a working distance where the lens’s field of view spans the full line width plus margin for lane drift. Mount the ring light coaxially around the lens so illumination angle matches the viewing angle and minimizes glare off shrink-wrap or glossy cartons. Verify the bracket cannot vibrate loose from line motion and does not intrude into the carton’s travel envelope.
Wiring
Section titled “Wiring”Camera connects via PoE Ethernet (data + power on one cable) to the edge box’s GigE Vision-capable NIC; ring light draws its own 24 V DC supply from the edge box’s power distribution, wired through a dedicated fused circuit, kept separate from the camera’s PoE injector to avoid light-driver electrical noise coupling into the image sensor.
Validation
Section titled “Validation”run 100 cartons down the line at normal production speed with a manual tally and compare the VisionEvent count-delta over the same window
Expected: counted cartons within +/-1 of the manual tally at the configured line speed and lighting; re-tune score_threshold if lighting or carton appearance changes
Safety notes
Section titled “Safety notes”- rigidly secure the camera and ring-light brackets above/beside the moving line; an unsecured overhead bracket is a falling-object hazard onto operators below
- lock out/stop the line (LOTO) while mounting brackets near moving conveyors, guards, or pinch points
- electrical safety for PoE camera cabling and ring-light power wiring, route away from pinch points and verify circuit fusing before energizing
600–2200 USD, difficulty 3/5, ~60 min install downtime.