Gartner recently predicted that by 2027, half of companies with warehouse operations will replace traditional scanning-based counting with artificial intelligence-enabled vision systems.

These new systems will use 3D cameras, computer vision software, AI-powered pattern recognition, and machine learning. However, integrating such systems will take more work and time than it might seem. The software will need training data and companies might have to develop their own that is specific to their products and needs.

The upside for companies is that, with the proper work, the combination of pattern recognition and machine learning might allow companies to reduce the amount of manual work necessary for processing and warehouse operations. Visual processing can extend beyond visual spectra into various levels of infrared, for example, to perform quality control and advanced levels of sorting unavailable to human vision.