Technical requirements of robots for cameras

High resolution for versatile tasks: Robots perform a wide range of tasks, from precise in industrial manufacturing to facial recognition in service scenarios, all of which require high-resolution cameras. In industrial inspections, high-resolution cameras can clearly capture minute defects on product surfaces such as tiny scratches on electronic chips and incomplete soldering points, ensuring product quality; in security monitoring scenarios, they can clearly identify key information such as facial features and plate numbers. Generally, robot cameras used in industrial and security fields should have a pixel count of over 5 million, with some high-end applications even requiring 1 million pixels or more, corresponding to a resolution of 2592×1944dpi or higher, to meet the strict requirements for capturing details.

distribution and image quality: In addition to the number of pixels, the uniformity of pixel distribution on the image sensor also affects image quality. Uniformly distributed pixels can local blurring or detail loss in images, ensuring consistent clarity across the entire picture. For example, when logistics robots capture goods, it ensures that all parts of the can be clearly imaged without any area being blurred due to pixel distribution issues, which could affect the recognition of goods information.

High for complex lighting: Robot working environments have complex and changing lighting conditions, and different scenarios such as indoors and outdoors, day and night, strong and weak light may be. High sensitivity (ISO) cameras can capture sufficient light in low-light environments, producing clear and low-noise images. For example, security robots on night patrol can high-sensitivity cameras to make the surveillance picture clear and accurately capture the images of suspicious personnel and objects. Generally, the ISO value of robot cameras should be flexibly between 100 - 6400 to adapt to different lighting conditions.

Wide dynamic range to retain details: Wide dynamic range (WDR) allows to capture both bright and dark details in the same picture. In industrial scenarios, there may be both brightly lit metal parts and darker shadow areas. Cameras with wide dynamic can make the texture and details of metal parts clearly visible, and the shadow areas will not be completely dark, losing key information. For example, when shooting the metal process, it can not only present the bright luster of high-temperature metal but also show the contours of surrounding tools and equipment.

Fast and autofocus: As robots move, the position and distance of the shooting target are constantly changing, requiring cameras to have fast autofocus functions. It can complete focusing in a short (usually within 0.5 seconds), quickly lock the target, and ensure that the captured images are clear. For example, when service robots interact with people in positions, they can quickly focus on faces, capture clear facial expressions and movements, and achieve better human-machine interaction.

Manual focusing for special scenarios: Although autofocus is convenient in some special scenarios, such as macro shooting and when a specific depth of field effect is needed, the manual focusing function allows users to control more precisely. For example when educational robots capture microscopic experimental samples, operators can manually adjust the focusing distance to highlight the details of the sample and meet the needs of teaching and scientific research.

Optical anti-shake stabilizes the image: During the movement of the robot, will occur, and optical anti-shake technology, by incorporating a movable lens group inside the lens, can detect and compensate for image offsets caused by vibrations in real time effectively reducing blurry images. When shooting goods during the movement of the logistics handling robot, optical anti-shake can ensure image stability and avoid errors in the recognition of goods due to vibrations.

Electronic anti-shake supplements and strengthens: Electronic anti-shake technology analyzes and processes the data collected by the image sensor, and uses algorithms to correct image displacement caused by shaking. It works in conjunction with optical anti-shake to further improve the anti-shake effect of the camera under complex motion conditions. For example in robots working in the field, facing the severe vibrations brought by the rugged terrain, optical anti-shake and electronic anti-shake work together to ensure the stability of shooting image.

High frame rate ensures smooth video: For robot cameras shooting video, a high frame rate is key to ensuring the smoothness the video. Generally, a frame rate of more than 30fps (frames/second) is required to meet the needs of daily shooting; when capturing fast scenes, such as the high-speed operation of industrial robots and the shooting of athletes' movements by sports event service robots, the frame rate should reach 60fps even 120fps to effectively reduce frame drops and make the video more smooth and natural.

Fast continuous shooting captures moments: The fast continuous shooting function can shoot photos in a short period of time, allowing the robot to not miss important moments. In security monitoring, when an abnormal situation is detected, the camera can quickly shoot to record the development process of the event and provide rich image materials for subsequent investigations.

Appropriate field of view meets the needs: application scenarios have different requirements for the field of view of the camera. In indoor service robots, in order to fully sense the surrounding environment, a larger field of is usually needed, and a super wide-angle lens of 120° - 180° is more appropriate, which can cover a larger range and promptly personnel and objects; while in industrial inspection, when making fine observations of specific targets, a smaller field of view may be needed, such as a medium to long focal length lens of 30° - 60°, to magnify the target and highlight the details.

Low distortion ensures image accuracy: Lens distortion can cause images deform, affecting the robot's accurate judgment of environmental information. Robot cameras should use low distortion lens designs, keeping the distortion rate at a low level, generally requiring distortion rate of less than 1%. When the surveying robot draws a map, a low distortion lens can ensure the accuracy of the measurement data and avoid errors caused image deformation.

High-speed data transmission: The images and videos captured by the robot camera need to transmitted to the control system or storage device in real time, which requires high-speed data transmission capability. Typically, wired or wireless transmission technologies such as USB 3. and above interfaces, Wi-Fi 6, etc., are used, with transmission rates reaching the Mbps level and above, to ensure the smooth transmission of images and videos reduce latency. When remotely controlling the robot, high-speed data transmission can ensure that operators get real-time images from the scene, making accurate decisions.

Large capacity storage support: To store a large amount of captured data, the robot camera needs to support large capacity storage devices, such as SD cards, solid-state drives, etc. The storage should be determined according to the actual shooting needs, generally at least 16GB is recommended, and for long-term, high-resolution shooting tasks, you can choose64GB or even 128GB of large capacity storage devices to meet the needs of continuous shooting.

Adapt to the's load: The robot's load-bearing capacity is limited, and to avoid affecting the robot's motion performance and endurance, the camera needs to achieve miniaturization and design. Under the premise of ensuring performance, the camera's volume and weight should be reduced as much as possible. Generally, the weight of consumer-grade robot cameras is dozens of grams to hundreds of grams, and professional-grade robot cameras will also strictly control the weight to ensure that it matches the overall load of the robot.

Compact structure easy installation: The camera's structural design should be compact and easy to install in different positions of the robot without affecting the robot's appearance and motion. The installation should be solid and reliable, and it should remain stable during the robot's motion, avoiding looseness or damage to the camera due to vibration or collision. For example in humanoid robots, cameras are usually installed in the head, and their compact structure and solid installation method ensure both visual effects and do not affect the robot's mobility.

Dustproof, waterproof, and anti-interference: In complex environments such as industry, security, and the outdoors, the robot camera needs to have certain dustproof and waterproof grade, at least reaching the IP54 standard, to prevent dust from entering the interior and affecting the imaging quality, and it can still normally in the case of slight splashing water. At the same time, it should have good anti-electromagnetic interference capability to avoid interference from surrounding electronic devices on camera's work. For example, in a factory workshop, a large number of mechanical equipment running produces electromagnetic interference, and the camera needs to be able to work st without being affected.

Wide temperature working range: The robot may work in different temperature environments, and the camera's working temperature range is generally required to be between -2℃ and 50℃. Whether it is the cold winter outdoors or the hot indoor environment, it can ensure that the camera works normally without performance degradation or failure to too high or too low temperature. In logistics robots working in cold storage, the camera needs to operate normally in a low-temperature environment to ensure the accuracy of recognition and operation.