Our Experience 

Kevin Harding    President

Kevin Harding: has over 45 Years of Optics, Vision, Metrology Experience. He is the Editor/Primary Author CRC Handbook Optical Dimensional Metrology, Author Practical Optical Dimensional Metrology on SPIE Press; SPIE 35+ Years has served as Chair, Instructor, Fellow, Past President, and received the Pres. Award. With SME Kevin received the Young Engineer & Eli Whitney Award, Sr. Member. he was an Machine vision Association Chair, received the AIA Leadership Award, Engineering Society of Detroit Leadership. Kevin Authored >200 paper, 5 book chapters, >88 US patents optics/metrology >80. Tutorials taught included multiples years of Optics and Lighting for Machine Vision, Metrology, Optics for Non-Optics People. 3D Optical Metrology Expertise: Quality Systems, six sigma methods Optical System Design, Machine Vision System Development, Analysis Optical Metrology Application Engineering/ Technology/Market Evaluations Deep technical knowledge commercial (and non) optical gages (1- 2-3D). Extensive Government and Industry proposal and contract experience.  Work Experience Includes:  University of Dayton Research Institute, Industrial Technology Institute (Director: Cost, Quality, Productivity), GE Global Research (Principal Engineer).

Robert Tait             Partner



Robert Tait: Over 40 years experience, Vision, Automation. Frequent Speaker/Instructor: Vision Show, Automate, NI Week. Robert Worked with several company startups (electronics inspection..). Expertise: Machine Vision System/Automation Integration, Lab View Programming, Automation Control Lighting/Imaging/controls integration/Shop hardening Collaborative Robots.  Work Experience includes: University of Dayton Research Institute (at WPAFB ), Industrial Technology Institute, Intelligent Reasoning Systems Inc, Dimension Data, GE Global Research.  

We know Tech

Our Expertise and Background
We can use this background to provide consulting advice to address your application needs

Machine Vision and Visual Inspection:

  • Smart Camera and Vision System Guidence
  • Optics and Lighting Options Reviews
  • Custom Optical/Lighting Advice
  • Aid to Visual Inspection Applications Usage
  • System Selelection and Specification Consultation

Example Applications:

  • Part Defect Inspection, OCR, Sizing
  • Part Sorting, Assembly Verification
  • Design for Inspection, Colab Robots
  • Metals, shiny parts, plastics, paper


Metrology and Dimensional Analysis:

  • Laser Point, Line area Gages/Triangulation Expertise
  • Confocal, Interferometric, Microscopy Applications
  • Metrology Standards, Calibration, Analysis Information
  • Realtime Dimensional Process Monitoring Guidence
  • 3D Metrology Systems and Tracker Expertise 
  • Optical Instrumentation and System Evaluation


Example Applications:

  • Precision Parts (gears, airfoils, surface finish)
  • Large Parts (sheet metal, structures, assemblies)
  • Part/process tracking and machine control

TUTORIAL PRESENTATIONS

Presented By Kevin Harding


  • "Optical Considerations for Machine Vision", SME Hands-on Workshop series in "Machine Vision in Automotive Manufacturing", Nello Zuech workshop leader, '85, '86, '87.
  • "High Resolution Optics for Machine Vision", SME Optics and Lighting Workshop series, Perry West workshop leader, '86, '87, '88, '89. 
  • "Basic Optics for Machine Vision", SME Vision '87, '88, 92 , 94, 96 conferences.
  • "Advanced Optics for Machine Vision", SME Vision '88, '89 conference.
  • "Interferometry Applications in Machine Vision", AVA Advanced Machine Vision Front End: Cameras, Lighting and Optics Series, '86, '87.
  • "Microscopy Techniques for Machine Vision Applications", AVA Advanced Machine Vision Front End: Cameras, Lighting and Optics Series, '87. 
  • "Industrial Interferometry", SPIE Cambridge '86, Dearborn '88. 
  • "Gaging with Machine Vision", SME International '90
  • "Specifying Optics for Machine Vision", Electronic Imaging '90, 92, Boston, October 29 November 1, 1990.
  • "Specifying Optics for Machine Vision Applications", SME Clinic: Optics and Lighting Technology for
  • Machine Vision Applications, Dallas, October 10 18, 1990.  
  • "Advanced Optical Considerations for Machine Vision", SME Tutorial, Vision 90, Detroit, Nov 12 15, 1990.
  • "Effective Lighting Engineering for Machine Vision Applications", SME Workshop, Ann Arbor, May 14-15, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996. 1997. (organizer as well as lecturer)
  • "Three Dimensional Imaging: Tutorial and Current Status" and "Specifying Optics for Machine Vision Applications", SME Clinic: Lighting & Optics Technology for Machine Vision Applications, June 4-5, 1991.  
  • "Optics for Industrial Metrology", SPIE tutorial, Boston, Sept. 1993
  • SME clinic "Machine Vision for the Electronic Industry" Dallas, TX, Nov. 1993.
  • "Non-Contact, Three-Dimensional Gaging Methods and Technologies Workshop" organizer and general chair, SME workshop, Novi, MI March, 1995, ’96, ‘97.
  • "Optics and components for machine vision," Automated Imaging Association, show and conf. Detroit '93, '95, also "Three Dimensional non-contact Technology," AIA Detroit June '95.
  • "Optical Metrology" workshop series, National Alliance for Photonic Education in Manufacturing (NAPEM), general organizer, lecturer and principal Investigator (NSF co-sponsored) April-June, 1995-.1997
  • "How to Select a Laser Gage" SME workshop tutorial, Detroit, Dec. 1995, Nov 1996, Mar ‘97.
  • “Optics for Non-Optics People” SPIE, Photonics West (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012), Optics and Photonics (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) Defense and Security (2011, 2012)
  • 3D Optical Metrology SPIE Optics and Photonics (2010, 2011).
  • Privately sponsored in-plant training on: Optics and Lighting for Machine Vision, Laser Gaging Techniques, Optical Preprocessing Technology: Technology Review Series and Continuous Improvement strategies.


Selected Publications


1. “Machine Vision Lighting,” Harding, Kevin. The Encyclopedia of Optical Engineering. Marcel Dekker (2000).

2. “Overview Of Non-Contact 3D Sensing Methods,” Harding, Kevin, The Encyclopedia of Optical Engineering. Marcel Dekker (2000).

3. Kevin Harding, Gil Abramovich, Vijay Paruchuru, Swaminathan Manickam, Arun Vemury, “3D Imaging System for Biometric Applications,” Proc. SPIE Vol 7690, (2010). 

4. M. Daneshpanah and Kevin Harding, “Surface sensitivity reduction in laser triangulation sensors,” SPIE Poc. 8133-23 (2011).

5. Kevin Harding, “Method for the evaluation 3D non-contact inspection systems,” SPIE Proc. 8133-23 (2011)

6. Kevin Harding, Gil Abromovich, “Visual tools for human guidance in manual operations,” SPIE Proc. 8384 (2012).

7. Yi Liao, Robert Tait, Kevin Harding, “Continuous bucket creep measurement based on moiré,” SPIE Proc. 8563 (2012).

8. Kevin Harding, Esmaeil Heidari, Robert Tait, Guangping Xie, Zirong Zhai “Industrial surface finish method comparison for fine finish measurements,” SPIE Proc. 8563 (2012).

9. Esmaeil Heidari, Kevin G. Harding, Robert W. Tait, "Automated cylindrical mapper using chromatic confocal measurement", Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 8839, 88390F (2013).

10. Kevin G. Harding, Daniel C. Gray, "Dual resolution imaging for metrology applications", Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 8839, 883905 (2013)

11. Daniel C. Gray, Hongquiang Chen, Joseph Czechowski, et al., "A single lens with no moving parts for rapid high-resolution 3D image capture ", Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 8659, 86590N (2013)

12. Handbook of Optical Dimensional Metrology, Kevin Harding Editor, CRC Press, NY (2013).

13. Harding, K.; Daneshpanah, Mehdi; Xie, Guangping, Tao, Li; “Improved measurement dynamic range for point triangulation probes,” SPIE Proc. Vol. 9110 (2014).

14. Robert Tait, Guoshuang Cai, Magdi Azer, Xiaobin Chen, Yong Liu, Kevin Harding, “Method for controlling a laser additive process using intrinsic illumination,” SPIE Proc. Vol. 9489 (2015).

15. Robert Tait, Kevin Harding, Chris Nafis, “Composite layup monitoring using structured light,” SPIE Proc. Vol. 9489 (2015).

16. Yi Liao, Kevin G Harding, Rajesh Ramamurthy, “Small hole inner profile measurement methods,” SPIE Proc. Vol. 9489 (2015).

17. Kevin Harding, Rajesh Ramamurthy, Zirong Zhai, Jie Han, Dongmin Yang, “Effects of light wavelength and coherence in structured light sensors,” SPIE Proc. Vol. 9868-6 (2016).

18. Robert Tait, Kevin Harding, “Design of an aid to visual inspection workstation,” SPIE Proc. Vol. 9868-11 (2016).

19. Kevin Harding, “Multi-focus, high resolution inspection system for extended range applications,” SPIE Proc. Vol. 9868-13 (2016)

20. Practical Optical Dimensional Metrology, Kevin Harding Author, SPIE Press Tutorial Series, (2019).  .

21. Kevin Harding, “Optimized Measurement of Gaps,” SPIE Proc. Vol. 10220-13 (2017). 



Selected Patents

1. System and Method for inspection of films (US20070115464)

2. Interferometer-based real time early fouling detection system and method (US20080084565) (US7428055)

3. Phase shifting imaging module and method of imaging (US20070133009) (US7466426)

4. System and method for extracting parameters of a cutting tool (US7577491) (EP1792687 A1)

5. Optical edge break gage (US20070109558) (EP1785693 A1) (JP2007139776) (US7,489,408)

6. Flatness Tester for Optical Components (US7327473)

7. Method and system for image processing for structured light profiling of a part (US7302109)

8. System and Method for detecting Defects in a Light-management film (US7199386) 

9. System and method for detecting repeating defects in a light-management film (US7435986)

10. Methods for determining the depth of defects (US6874932) (JP2005024556)