The South Korean firm has used Microsoft ToF technology for developing 3D sensing modules
LG Innotek collaborates with Microsoft to commercialise cloud connected 3D camera. (Credit: LG INNOTEK)
LG Innotek has joined forces with Microsoft to provide access to 3D vision technology to enable innovation across various industry verticals that include healthcare, fitness, retail, and logistics.
For this, the partners will leverage LG Innotek’s Time of Flight (ToF) technology-based 3D camera modules and Microsoft’s Azure Depth Platform.
LG Innotek optics solution product planning division head Jongyun Eun said: “Microsoft’s Azure Depth Platform program has selected LG Innotek as a scaling partner due to its leading-edge technologies and production capability.
“Our collaboration with Microsoft will enable LG Innotek to help ecosystem partners on new designs and expand the application areas of 3D sensing modules beyond smartphones.”
According to LG Innotek, getting the position of objects directly from a 3D ToF camera instead of inferring it from one or more 2D cameras streamlines scene analysis and improves robustness.
The South Korean firm said that 3D cameras are apt for strong computer vision analysis with less computation for several commercial use cases.
However, special technology in illumination, strong sensor level understanding and optical design capability are needed for designing and manufacturing 3D camera, said the South Korean firm.
By combining its drive techniques and optical technologies, LG Innotek claims to have created ultra-slim multi-camera modules that can deliver high performance.
LG Innotek said that the combination of Microsoft ToF depth-sensing technology and the Azure Intelligent Edge and Intelligent cloud platforms is helping in the disruption of computer vision applications.
Through the collaboration, LG Innotek and Microsoft aim to drive customer value to the Azure ecosystem across various industries.
In healthcare, LG Innotek’s 3D ToF cameras can be used with Azure for measuring the posture and body shape of patients and to enable robot-assisted surgery.
In fitness, the combination can help in measuring motions more precisely.
LG Innotek said that the cloud-connected cameras can be used in factories for monitoring and analysing production lines to avert accidents.
Microsoft Silicon & Sensor’s group business incubation head Daniel Bar said: “LG Innotek brings world-class manufacturing expertise in complex optoelectronic systems. We are excited to welcome LG Innotek to our ecosystem and accelerate time to market for 3D cameras.
“This is a key step towards providing easy access for computer vision developers to create 3D vision applications.”