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【2024 Application Example】 AI-Based PCBA Surface Defect Detection Improvements

With the introduction of theAOI+AIWith the introduction of the system, we can improve product yield, reduce costs, and from a business perspective, increase customer trust and sales revenue. Moreover, AIit has advantages that are difficult to imitate, unlike other equipment that can be bought with money, making it hard for our competitors to catch up with us.

Our company's current development

We are committed toIOTsmart manufacturing; our systems already include smart materials systems, environmental humidity control systems, anti-miscarriage systems, smart procurement computation systems, smart inventory systems, solder paste management systems, and production management systems. We have asked other manufacturers about the possibility ofAIinspectingPCBAsurface defects, each hoping that we would purchase their equipment, but none were effective upon verification. After discussing with IT service providers, we defined it asAOI+AIa feasible operational model.

Tzuhong Technology has invested inAOI+AIan inspection plan to checkSMTtext on components, solder joints, polarity, missing parts....and usingAIto replace manual learningAOIand define the 'potentially defective' parts, enhancing productivity and reducing misjudgment rates.

Industry pain points

    Taiwan faces a severe labor shortage, especially those willing to perform visual inspections are few and typically older, increasing the frequency of missed inspections. Thus, the most critical bottleneck in the pursuit of high-quality electronics has become post-production inspections. Previous consumer products with undetected anomalies were acceptable within a certain ratio. However, in the automotive industry today, undetected defects could lead to fatalities; hence, the automotive industry has extremely high quality demands. To survive in the automotive supply chain, we must address the issue of undetectable anomalies.

    Moreover, as wages in Taiwan continue to rise, we can only endeavor toAIreplace traditional manpower with technology, otherwise, even if the anomaly leakage problem is resolved, the relatively high labor costs will still prevent competitiveness in this industry.

Application technology and explanation

    Initially,(Figure 1)PCBUpon emerging,Reflowsystem, it will undergoAOIwill undergo inspection, dividing into 'suspected defective' and good products. At this point, the 'suspected defective' portion accounts for20%manual review for these20%parts, further classifying the 'suspected defective' portion into good and defective products. With

    We aim to leverageAItechnology, to shift from manual re-inspection of these20%technology, we aim to replace manual review of 'suspected defective' products withAIand after review, the results still yield 'good' and 'suspected defective' products, but now 'suspected defective' comprises only3%thus reducing the workload of Tzuhong's employees from20%down to only3%In theory, it isAOIIn theory, after inspection, it is further reviewed byAIbut it appears to go throughAOIonly, so we call this technologyA0I+AIDetection(Figure 2)

The original AOI inspection process
The original AOI inspection process

The operator will place the testPCBboard intoAOIthe inspection equipment, outputtingAOI

information on defective products, then manually re-inspect one by one to determine if they are defective.

AOI+AI inspection process
AOI+AI inspection process

The operator will place the testPCBboard intoAOIthe inspection equipment, outputtingAOIinformation on defective products after,

then proceed byAIfirst performingAOIre-assessment of defective products, outputtingAIinformation on defective products afterward,

then manually re-inspect one by one to determine if they are defective.

Process differences

    By introducing theAOI+AIsystem, not only can we enhance the efficiency and yield of visual inspection personnel, we also have this timeAIexperience in system introduction, we will also incorporateAIthe use of big data into Tzuhong's existing smart manufacturing systems, further enhancing the performance of our smart manufacturing systems and reducing the pressure on employees.

Difference between pre and post-introduction
Difference between pre and post-introduction

Promotion strategy

(1)       Similar field diffusion: allSMTmanufacturers face bottlenecks in inspections leading to shipment delays; introducing this system can solve the severe labor shortage issue and enhance shipment speed and quality, allowing self-promotion to customers or through equipment dealers to cater to relevant needs.

(2)       Cross-industry expansion plans: negotiate withAOImanufacturers to directly integrateAIthe system intoAOItheir systems, enhancing their market competitiveness.

 

Profit strategy

(1)       In collaboration withAOImanufacturers, collect licensing fees.

(2)       Direct sales toSMTthe manufacturing industryAIsystems.

(3)       ProvideSMTmanufacturing industryAOI+AIsystem subscription model

「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only. Translation date:2024-12-09」

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【解決方案】佐翼科技無人機導入高爾夫球場域 可節省一半人力
Droxo Tech Applies Drones in Golf Courses to Reduce Manpower by Half

For most golf courses, the operations and management is a headache "Golf courses are selling turf and need to be properly taken care of," a golf course manager bluntly pointed out Facing the market pain points of labor shortage, aging population and high cost, the use of AI drones for pesticide spraying and pest control will reduce labor costs by more than half and greatly improve the overall operational efficiency At noon in early summer, an AI drone is slowly taking off at the Taipei Golf Club in Taoyuan Its main task is to test AI drone fertilizing and pesticide spraying on the golf course In fact, drones of Droxo Tech, the company performing this task, are widely used for fertilization, pesticide spraying, and pest and disease control for rice, bananas, and tea trees For golf courses with turfs that often cover tens to hundreds of hectares, AI drones are needed to assist in turf maintenance Data collection, development of pesticide spraying AI models, and multispectral image analysis and testing will be carried out in the current stage In the future, large-scale technology implementation and verification will be carried out to set an example for applying drones to golf courses Using AI drones to fertilize and spray pesticides can reduce the manpower required by half The traditional way of maintaining the turf in golf courses is to carry spray buckets or drive spraying vehicles to spray areas one by one "Domestic golf courses began to plant ultra-dwarf Bermuda grass in 2001 This grass species prefers a cool climate and is not suitable for Taiwan's hot and humid weather" Droxo Techrsquos CEO further pointed out that to prevent turf from pests and diseases, pesticide spraying is necessary For an 18-hole golf course, it is equivalent to spraying pesticides once a week, and the T-ground and fairways are sprayed every two months For golf courses, spraying pesticides is time-consuming and labor-intensive It is important to note that large-scale spraying will increase the risk of personnel poisoning and increase the amount of pesticide used Benefits of applying agricultural drones to golf courses According to Droxo Techrsquos research, golf course pests include Spodoptera litura, which comes out at night to look for food, so pesticide spraying must be carried out in the evening According to the traditional method, pesticide spraying requires two vehicles and three personnel for a total of 45 hours If AI drones are used for fertilizing and pesticide spraying, it only takes one operator to spray 08 hectares of land in 20 minutes, saving about two-thirds of the manpower and reducing operating costs by about 30 Using AI drones to fertilize and spray pesticides on golf courses can reduce the manpower required by half In addition to the significant benefits of using agricultural drones for golf course turf maintenance, Droxo Tech also specially introduced AI multispectral image recognition for NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index analysis "The so-called multispectral is to direct light with different wavelengths on the turf, and the reflected images are collected for analysis" Droxo Tech CEO Liu continued to explain that each plant absorbs light with different wavelengths, so multispectral imaging can determine the growth status of grass species At the same time, combined with AI image recognition, the distribution of pests and diseases can be accurately detected, and the amount of pesticide used is determined on this basis Cross-domain collaboration to build a multi-source turf image databasenbsp Using AI multispectral image recognition technology, Droxo Tech will collect visible light, multispectral, thermal images, and hyperspectral images to establish a multi-source turf image database to fully understand the growth cycle of Bermuda grass Droxo Tech has accumulated rich experience in agricultural AI drone pesticide spraying , but there are still many problems that need to be overcome to implement AI solutions in 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internal and external resources Only then will we be able to gradually achieve the goal of making golf courses smarter and smoothly assist the industry with transformation Zuoyi Technology's CEO, Liu Junlin 「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only Translation date:2024-05-19」

【導入案例】挺進智慧物流50 新竹物流醫材配送班表超高效率
Advancing to Smart Logistics 5.0: Hsinchu Logistics Delivers Medical Materials with Ultra-High Efficiency

After incorporating AI technology, traditional logistics companies have seen significant improvements in transportation efficiency and reductions in transportation costs, especially in the transfer of medical materials which involves timely service and rights of hospitals and patients The implementation of intelligent logistics can save medical material businesses the cost of constructing GDP warehouses and other expenses up to millions A major domestic logistics leader, Hsinchu Transport HCT, owns a fleet of 3,500 vehicles and a storage area of 60,000 square meters, providing customized logistics solutions including logistics, commerce, finance, information, distribution, storage, and processing The company handles up to 580,000 parcels per day, with a maximum capacity reaching 900,000 parcels, making the enhancement of transshipment efficiency crucial for HCT Medical materials transportation at hospitals need optimization of current operational processes and enhancements in systematization and intelligence Especially the transportation of hospital medical materials, which encounters various challenges Medical materials suppliers need to cater to varying customer product demands, temperature requirements, and delivery times through multiple logistics providers This highly depends on the experience and careful control of operations staff Whether it is the product shipment or actual logistics process, each step must be interconnected Any human errors can impact the service timing and rights of the hospitals and patients Thus, all concerned businesses, along with the government and hospitals, are working to optimize current operational processes and elevate the level of systematization, automation, and intelligence to minimize service errors and cost losses HCT's distribution process prior to AI implementation Currently, with the government's push for standardized platform operations on the demand side of hospitals, supply-side businesses collaborate through data coordination to improve the accuracy and efficiency of product shipments, enhancing operational quality and management benefits at the demand side At the same time, some businesses are also investing in the standardization and systematization of internal operational processes, thus enhancing operational efficiency and quality In the freight logistics sector, logistics companies' warehouse staff need to expend labor to control different logistics shipment operations If they often receive emergency task notifications for shipments to medical facilities, they usually depend on small regional logistics providers to provide customized delivery services Although this improves delivery times, it does not allow for integrated informational services The new GDP regulations for medical materials require suppliers to undergo GDP compliance certification Therefore, Hsinchu Transport, assisted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs' AI coaching program, not only extends existing logistics services compliant with GDP regulations but will also use data integration and optimized AI technologies to help medical material businesses streamline and improve their logistics operations Complex logistics issues are solved using the Simulated Annealing SA algorithm To meet the 'Good Distribution Practices for Medical Devices,' Hsinchu Transport is not only actively introducing new logistics vehicles but will also implement artificial intelligence-based mathematical optimization technologies to assist in intelligent scheduling at nationwide business points and transshipment stations They aim to optimize the routing of medical materials between business points or regions thereby enhancing efficiency in the distribution process Currently, during the transshipment process of medical materials at Hsinchu Transport, detachable tractor heads and containers are used Each business point and transshipment station differ in location design and staffing, impacting the throughput per unit of time Furthermore, daily cargo conditions size, destination vary, and due to these fluctuating and distinct demands, the deployment of tractor heads and containers changes accordingly Under these circumstances, Hsinchu Transport relies on past experiences to schedule departures at each satellite depot and adjusts daily according to the cargo needs Due to the reliance on empirical scheduling, it is often difficult to consider all variables and considerations, leaving room for improvement in the current departure schedules The cargo delivery planning inherently constitutes an NP-Hard problem, difficult to solve with traditional analytical methods Hsinchu Transport, in collaboration with Singular Infinity, utilizes the Simulated Annealing SA algorithm to find solutions The new logistic service introduced by Hsinchu Transport is 'GDP Container Shift Planning' This planning involves estimating future volumes of medical materials between stations and scheduling container truck shifts accordingly, ensuring timely and quality delivery of medical materials while maximizing operational benefits and reducing travel distances Hsinchu Transport introduces AI-optimized shift planning, constructing the most efficient route from its origin to destination Hsinchu Transport introduces 'Optimized Shift Planning' service, reducing transportation costs by 5 The introduction method involves using cloud software services Hsinchu Transport regularly inputs 'Interchange Item Tables' from station to station into the 'Optimized Shift Planning' service After setting the algorithm parameters, a GDP container shift schedule is generated At the same time, developing a Hsinchu Transport medical material scheduling system allows Hsinchu Transport's medical transport units to compile suitable schedules through the Interchange Item Tables Under the same level of service, it's estimated that this can reduce transportation costs by 5, saving medical material businesses millions in construction costs for GDP warehouses and distribution Due to its requirements for sanitation, temperature, and its fragility, the transportation and transshipment of medical materials should be minimized to reduce exposure and risk However, logistics efficiency and costs must still be considered AI designs the most efficient route for each cargo from its origin to destination, effectively completing daily transportation tasks In response to the future high development demand of industrial logistics, distribution and transshipment AI optimization will be a key issue Through this project, a dedicated project promotion organization will be established, staffed with AI technology, IT, and process domain talents After accumulating implementation experience, the application of AI will gradually expand, comprehensively optimizing and transforming Hsinchu Transport's operational system, and partnering with AIOT and various AI domain partners to accelerate and expand the achievement of benefits「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only Translation date:2024-05-19」

【解決方案】優式AI智能割草機器人 搶攻高爾夫藍海市場
USRROBOT's AI Lawn Mowing Robot Enters the Blue Ocean of Golf Market

An AI smart lawn mowing robot, resembling a vacuum robot, shuttles back and forth on the 30-hectare golf course lawn for weeding This robot, independently developed and designed by Taiwanese, is equipped with the world's first electronic fencing positioning technology which utilizes high-precision GPS integrated with cloud AI computation to determine the most efficient mowing paths, targeting the lucrative blue ocean market of golf courses This AI lawn mowing robot was developed by USRROBOT, a Taiwanese startup established in 2019 Chao-Cheng Chen, the president of USRROBOT, once served as the executive vice president of one of the top five ODM tech companies in Taiwan, and specializes in software and hardware integration When he served as the chairman of the Service Robot Alliance, he knew that the service robot industry was bound grow rapidly due to declining birth rates and the growingly severe labor shortage New demand - The horticulture market is large and the has rigid demand "To develop the core technology of service robots, we must find rigid demand Looking at European and American countries, there is a shortage of labor, but demand for horticulture has increased, and there has been a long-term shortage of 7-10 of horticultural workers" Under this strong "rigid demand," Chao-Cheng Chen established USRROBOT, and the company's first product is the AI lawn mowing robot In terms of overseas markets, the United States is the world's largest horticulture market, accounting for 30-40 of the global output value It is estimated that there are about 1 million horticulture workers, but they have been experiencing a labor shortage of 7-10 in recent years and have not been able to improve the situation The main reasons for labor shortage are Aging population and gardening is a labor-intensive job, so young people don't want to do it Unlike in Taiwan, European and American countries attach great importance to lawn maintenance and have expressly stipulated in the law that heavy fines will be imposed for failing to mow the lawn Therefore, the AI lawn mowing robot has considerable market development potential The introduction of AI multi-device collaborative mowing sensor technology is expected to reduce the burden of staff maintaining the golf course The AI lawn mowing robot developed by USRROBOT is currently in its second generation Domestic universities and well-known art museums are using the latest model M1, and it is also being used by some world-renowned high-tech companies and well-known universities in the United States The company is currently involved in negotiations for subsequent business cooperation USRROBOT stated that the professional RTK system currently used can reduce the original GPS positioning error from tens of meters to about 2 centimeters, allowing the robot to move accurately outdoors After setting the boundaries, it can be easily operated using the app New application - Implementation in golf courses solves the problem of labor aging and shortage Chao-Cheng Chen further explained that the National Land Surveying and Mapping Center is a RTK service provider RTK provides the error reference map of the positioning point USRROBOT can access the positioning error value of a specific position through 4G Internet access The AI algorithm of USRROBOT reduces the general 10-20 m error of GPS to 2 cm After positioning, USRROBOT then uses six-axis accelerator positioning, gyroscopes, and wheel differential sensing devices for software and hardware integration Only by matching the wheel's movement pattern and the terrain can accurate mowing path planning be achieved The AI lawn mowing robot, which is 62 cm wide, 84 cm long, 46 cm high, and weighs only 25 kg, can set the mowing boundaries in the cloud It can avoid pools and sand pits through settings, using AI algorithms to automatically calculate the optimal path It is able to mow approximately 150 ping of grass in one hour The battery can be used continuously for more than 6 hours The battery life is currently the highest in the world In addition to general gardening companies, with the assistance of the AI project team of the Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs, USRROBOT's AI lawn mowing robot has been applied to golf course lawn mowing A well-known golf course located in Taiping District, Taichung City currently has a staff of 5 people who are responsible for the lawn, planting maintenance, and other landscape maintenance of the entire 30-hectare course However, the average age of staff is as high as 55 years old, and the golf course has been unable to recruit new staff members for a long time In view of the aging staff and the shortage of manpower, the golf course hopes to mitigate the impact with AI technology, and is therefore using AI multi-device collaborative mowing sensor technology, in hopes of reducing the burden of staff maintaining the golf course New challenges - Expert systems are needed to overcome difficulties with different grass species "This AI lawn mowing robot has low noise, low pollution, low labor costs, and is waterproof and anti-theft In the lawn mowing process, it can identify and avoid obstacles through ultrasonic sensors while maintaining mowing quality, maintaining aesthetic and consistent grass length" Chao-Cheng Chen went on to say that the most important part about golf courses is that the grass pattern should be beautiful and free from diseases and pests Based on the site survey, golf courses are mainly divided into three major areas green, fairway and rough There is no problem using the current mowing robot to mow the rough area, and it can overcome slopes within 20 degreesThe short grass in the fairway area may only be two centimeters long, and the grass types are also different, so the cutterhead design needs to be modifiedAs for the grass in the green area, the grass must be mowed close to the ground and maintained in a consistent direction because it affects the putting speed Many factors will affect the green index, and this part requires more research and testing The AI lawn mowing robot can identify and avoid obstacles through ultrasonic sensors while maintaining mowing quality The AI smart lawn mowing robot has a built-in camera that can be used to detect the health condition of the lawn Chao-Cheng Chen said that in the future, an expert system will also be introduced for early determination of whether there are diseases, pests in the lawn or whether there is sufficient moisture, and provide lawn health data analysis to customers, so that they can take preventive and response measures sooner to reduce disaster losses Chao-Cheng Chen, who is also a good golfer himself, said that golf has developed well in Taiwan However, due to weather factors, such as rainy and humid climate and typhoons, Taiwan's golf courses have harder soil and more potholes compared with top tier golf courses overseas If AI lawn mowing robots are to be widely introduced into golf courses, there are still many difficulties that must be overcome However, Taiwan's difficult terrain creates a good testing ground Once Taiwan can overcome the many problems and successfully introduce the robot, it will be able to expand to overseas markets and seize new market opportunities in a blue ocean Chao-Cheng Chen, President of USRROBOT nbsp