EZ Automation demonstrates new inline configuration of AI-powered inspection system

EZ Automation Systems, a provider of advanced automation technologies, announced that it will demonstrate a new, inline configuration of its PIQuE automated surface inspection system during the ISA Automation Summit & Expo.

The event will take place from October 5-7 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

3D vision system with lasers, deep learning model  

EZ said it initially introduced PIQuE as a robotically enabled 360-degree vision system that uses 3D laser triangulation and deep learning models to identify surface defects, including scratches, dents, missing components and barcode errors.

The company said that the live ISA Summit demo will introduce a new design that forgoes the 360-degree robotic manipulation component, instead deploying PIQuE's surface inspection capabilities as a new inline configuration. 

The new configuration underscores the platform's ability to accommodate various production environments and quality control requirements. It allows seamless integration with production lines for fast, accurate inline inspection. But the inline system retains PIQuE’s use of 3D laser triangulation and AI-driven inspection capabilities. 

“PIQuE represents our commitment to delivering advanced turnkey quality control solutions tailored to address real-world manufacturing challenges,” said Ahmed Tawfik, CEO at EZ Automation. “The system’s ability to deliver highly accurate, comprehensive surface inspection in configurations demonstrates the flexibility that manufacturers need in today’s dynamic production environments.”

EZ Eye automated inspection adds benchmark

In conjunction with the PIQuE demonstration at ISA Summit 2025, EZ Automation also introduced the latest benchmark for the efficiency gains that its EZ Eye automated inspection can deliver for quality assurance operations.

The company's analysis of customer project data showed that EZ Eye enabled a 55% reduction in the work hours required to train deep-learning systems for challenging inspection applications.

EZ Eye’s intelligent sorting capability delivers significant time savings ranging from 33% to 78% reduction in man-hours required. This frees up human operators to focus on novel or ambiguous cases rather than repetitive manual classification tasks. Courtesy of EZ Automation Systems.

“As manufacturers increasingly deploy deep learning to quality inspection, automation solutions like EZ Eye offer an essential competitive advantage,” Tawfik said. “The technology doesn’t just accelerate and simplify the training of AI-based machine vision systems, it enhances the accuracy of inspection operations - particularly those tasked with foreign matter detection.”

EZ Automation said the core of EZ Eye’s efficiency gains is EZ Sift, an algorithmic tool that significantly accelerates the training process for deep learning-based vision systems. Traditional image grading requires human operators to manually sort through extensive image datasets to assign a pass or fail designation to each image. This time-intensive process becomes exponentially more challenging when training systems to detect rare objects that may occur in less than 1% of inspected items.

EZ Sift applies cyclic optimization principles to identify patterns in human grading behavior, allowing the system to automatically categorize similar images and focus human attention on grading novel or ambiguous cases. EZ said that this intelligent sorting capability has proven particularly effective for small object detection scenarios, where testing has demonstrated the technology’s ability to maintain model accuracy above 96% while reducing the time that human operators spend grading by as much as 97%.

The company said that EZ Eye distinguishes itself as a comprehensive, technology-agnostic platform that integrates with virtually any machine vision or process control system, enabling enterprise-level integration through PLC communication for real-time status and results exchange.

EZ Eye has been deployed in production environments since 2018, when EZ Automation developed the original deep learning-based system for a customer who needed to rapidly deploy a foreign matter inspection offering.

PIQUe powered by EZ Eye, pretrained AI models

PIQuE is powered by EZ Eye, and can use pretrained AI models for rapid deployment and intelligent automated inspection routines without extensive setup requirements. PIQuE’s adaptive learning functionality automatically adjusts to surface variations and product inconsistencies over time to constantly improve inspection accuracy. EZ said this continuous refinement based on historical data further reduces false rejections and helps manufacturers maintain consistent quality standards.

Unlike traditional vision systems with complex deployment and commissioning steps, EZ said that PIQuE operates as a plug-and-play technology, utilizing cloud-based analytics and remote monitoring capabilities.

EZ Automation said that PIQuE’s surface inspection capabilities serve diverse manufacturing sectors, with applications ranging from electronics and semiconductor manufacturing to the production of medical devices and aerospace components.

The company said that its system effectively identifies soldering defects, PCB damage and component misalignment in electronics manufacturing, and it excels at inspecting machined metal parts, where surface quality and precision tolerances are often mission-critical.