Siemens AG has acquired D11Z.Ventures GmbH & Co. KG (Heilbronn, Germany), a venture capital firm that specializes in early stage funding for AI firms, for Inspekto GmbH, a startup in automated visual inspection.

Inspekto (Heilbronn, Germany) released their product, Visual Inspection in a Box, in 2018. Deep learning software and every part required for a machine vision system, including a camera, lens, and lighting, are included in the INSPEKTO S70 product. The system can be installed in minutes by workers at industrial plants without the assistance of an integrator, according to the company, which has its headquarters in Raman-Gan, Israel.

After training with 20 to 30 photos of high-quality items, INSPEKTO S70 is prepared for installation right away on a production line. Three AI engines make up the product’s AI software, AMV-AI: one modifies optics parameters to create sharp images, another recognizes the part, and a third handles the inspection.

Siemens, located in Munich, Germany, was among Inspekto’s initial clients. Siemens, for instance, installed the system at its Karlsruhe, Germany, facility to guarantee that every part of a SIM-tray housing product was correctly put together prior to packaging.

Inspekto has been recognized as a 2019 Vision Systems Design Innovators Award gold-level honoree. The company’s clients include BSH Home Appliance Corp. (Irvine, CA, USA) and BMW Group (Munich, Germany), in addition to Siemens.

The INSPEKTO S70 can be purchased as a mobile or stand-alone device with central control.

Ulrich Eger, CEO of Inspekto, explains the sale to Siemens by saying,“Due to economic change and the need for dynamic production requirements, the demand from manufacturers for flexible, autonomous quality inspection systems has risen continuously worldwide. With Siemens AG, Inspekto has now found a strong partner to continue to successfully develop and offer the products, technologies, and services of Inspekto GmbH worldwide.”

“Inspekto’s  innovative AI technology and capabilities are another valuable addition to our industrial AI software portfolio,” says Rainer Brehm, CEO of Siemens Factory Automation. This improves what we can offer our clients in the Siemens Industrial Edge ecosystem. The ecosystem consists of services and software for accessing, evaluating, and storing data from IoT automation devices dispersed across the floor of the plant.