Modern warehouses are undergoing a huge shift driven by robotics and embedded vision. Their smart automation-led systems depend on accurate sensing, real-time monitoring, and automated decision-making. Hence, the cameras must ensure that these systems can rely on visual data to function with consistency and predictability. This helps identify, track, and interact with the environment in real time.
Today, warehouses use embedded cameras in a wide range of robotic systems to streamline operations. From picking items to avoiding collisions and monitoring storage levels, the right camera can power critical warehouse automation workflows.
In this blog, you’ll learn about how embedded cameras work, the popular vision-related warehouse use cases, and key imaging features to be seriously considered.
Role of Embedded Vision in Warehouse Automation Use Cases
Goods-to-person automation
In goods-to-person automation, mobile platforms retrieve inventory and transport it to human operators for packing or sorting. The robots depend on imaging input to navigate aisles, detect obstacles, and locate inventory bins.
Stereo cameras or depth-sensing modules help estimate distances and recognize dynamic elements like humans or moving carts. The camera systems enable continuous path corrections while maintaining high accuracy in locating storage racks and docking stations.
Pick and place automation
In automated picking systems, robots equipped with embedded cameras identify, locate, and grasp items of varying shapes, sizes, and packaging textures. The challenge is in segmenting items from cluttered backgrounds, tracking them as they move on conveyor belts, and recognizing barcodes or printed data.
Cameras help these arms adapt to variable object positions. Integrated with AI-based vision models, these robots can handle high-volume item sorting without needing manual intervention.
Forklift automation
Cameras play a big role in helping driverless forklifts detect pallet positions, scan QR codes, and maintain alignment with narrow aisles. Forklifts also use their imaging data to assess load stability and prevent misplacement or tipping.
With real-time image processing, they can maneuver with consistency in fast-paced settings. It is also critical for them to maintain visual clarity even when lighting conditions change across different storage zones.
Inventory tracking automation
Inventory audits need accuracy, speed, and minimal disruption. Ground-based robots and drones scan shelves, capture stock visuals, and cross-reference this data with warehouse databases.
Therefore, high-performance cameras are required to read the fine print on labels, detect empty slots, and verify packaging types. First, the visual data is captured and then interpreted without needing large-scale cloud transfers.
Delivery automation
In-warehouse delivery robots handle the movement of picked goods, returns, or fragile items. Navigation accuracy is important when these units move between racks, across docking bays, or through shared human-machine pathways.
Embedded cameras detect human workers, obstacles, and changing floor patterns. This data supports path planning engines, helping robots make context-sensitive decisions such as yielding space or rerouting.
Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS)
In ASRS environments, cameras monitor bin movements, verify item placements, and detect anomalies in real time. It ensures that storage and retrieval operations proceed without errors, even in high-density configurations. Vision systems also assist in coordinating multiple robots, enabling seamless interactions and preventing collisions.
At picking stations, cameras guide human operators by providing imaging data that acts as instructions for item selection and placement. It reduces reliance on printed pick lists and minimizes errors. Moreover, cameras help offer immediate feedback and adjustments, which ends up enhancing workflow efficiency.
Camera Features That Power Warehouse Automation
High-resolution imaging
High-resolution sensors offer detailed visual data for object classification, damage detection, and inventory validation. For instance, in pick-and-place systems, resolution becomes crucial when identifying small parts or differentiating between similar-looking items. When used in drones, higher resolution ensures that shelf-level labels or QR codes remain legible even when the camera is placed several feet away.
Shutter speed
Faster shutter speeds are crucial for minimizing motion blur when items or robots are in motion. For example, conveyor systems or high-speed drones require sharp frame captures despite rapid movement. It helps maintain image sharpness while reducing processing errors in item tracking or inspection systems.
Wide Field of View (FOV)
Wide-angle lenses enable embedded cameras to cover broader sections of the warehouse in a single frame. It becomes useful in path planning, obstacle detection, and traffic monitoring, where situational awareness is critical. For example, in fixed-location monitoring systems, wide FOV cameras reduce blind spots without increasing the number of sensors required.
Fast auto exposure
Warehouses tend to dim lighting to save energy or may have low-light zones for certain types of storage. Fast auto exposure helps cameras adapt instantly when robots or drones move between zones with different light levels. For instance, it provides a significant advantage for high-speed navigation workflows where frame delays can disrupt synchronization with inventory systems or central databases.
Monochrome vs. color
The choice between monochrome and color sensors depends on the task at hand. Monochrome is the go-to for QR code scanning, where clean contrast matters more than color accuracy. Color sensors come into play when packaging details, labels, or product variations need to be captured clearly in dynamic warehouse settings.
High Dynamic Range (HDR)
Certain environments demand HDR without the need for other enhancements. It applies to locations like doorways or window-facing areas, where abrupt exposure to outdoor light (e.g., through open shutters) creates uneven lighting. In warehouses, brightness often shifts sharply due to reflective packaging, overhead fixtures, or natural skylights.
HDR-equipped cameras balance these variations by capturing details in both illuminated and shadowed zones. That way, image clarity can be maintained when reading barcodes on glossy surfaces or tracking items positioned near strong light sources.
e-con Systems’ World-Class Cameras for Smart Warehouses
Since 2003, e-con Systems® has been designing, developing, and manufacturing OEM cameras. We offer off-the-shelf and custom cameras for executing high-resolution imaging tasks in warehouse automation.
Our cameras perform exceptionally well under shifting warehouse lighting and deliver clear visuals that support accurate item sorting, movement tracking, inventory control, etc. For instance, our global shutter cameras ensure a High Frame Rate (up to 280 fps) to power your smart warehouse applications. These modules include:
- See3CAM_37CUG – 3MP IMX900-Based Global Shutter USB3 Camera
- NeduCAM25_CUOAGX – Global Shutter FPD-Link III Camera with 15m Cable Support
- RouteCAM_CU25_IP67 – AR0234CS Global Shutter Full HD GigE Camera
- e-CAM37M_CUONX – 3MP IMX900 Monochrome Camera
See the full list of e-con Systems’ global shutter cameras.
Use our Camera Selector to check out our portfolio.
If you need expert guidance to select the best-fit camera for your warehouse automation system, please write to camerasolutions@e-consystems.com.
Suresh Madhu is the product marketing manager with 16+ years of experience in embedded product design, technical architecture, SOM product design, camera solutions, and product development. He has played an integral part in helping many customers build their products by integrating the right vision technology into them.