Mitsubishi Electric and HACARUS expand their cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence visual inspection

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Japanese artificial intelligence company HACARUS Corporation have agreed to expand their existing collaboration in the development of artificial intelligence-based vision applications for manufacturing. Mitsubishi Electric will hold a stake in HACARUS as part of the agreement. With this strategic partnership, which will benefit from the resources and technologies of both companies, Mitsubishi Electric aims to more quickly develop and provide integrated and automated artificial intelligence-based visual inspection solutions that will benefit customers from increasing production quality and overall productivity by leveraging HACARUS’ expertise. Thanks to this cooperation, HACARUS will have the opportunity to access Mitsubishi Electric’s comprehensive sales infrastructure in Japan and worldwide.

In recent years, the decline in the workforce, especially skilled labor, in various countries has negatively affected production efficiency levels. As a result, rule-based visual inspection using image processing technologies began to be adopted and developed. With this method, quality verification can be made using image processing technology to determine features such as length and area of a particular location. However, due to difficulties in detecting defects such as scratches and uneven colors, the demand for artificial intelligence technology that can further automate inspection processes and reduce the burden on product inspectors is increasing day by day.

HACARUS, which is an expert in developing artificial intelligence as well as integrating it with various factory automation devices; In parallel with these developments, it offers a compact visual inspection solution equipped with artificial intelligence with its product called HACARUS Check. In December 2023, Mitsubishi Electric launched MELSOFT VIXIO, a visual inspection software equipped with its proprietary Maisart AI technology to automate visual inspection processes for improved production quality, allowing users to use artificial intelligence without any specialized knowledge.

Toshie Takeuchi, Group President of Mitsubishi Electric Factory Automation Systems Group, said: “Although the automation of production lines is accelerating due to labor shortages, many visual inspections are still performed manually by humans. “Through MELSOFT VIXIO, supported by HACARUS’ expertise in artificial intelligence-based visual inspection, we aim to respond more strongly to the needs of customers who want to eliminate labor shortages in the production sector,” he said.