The Vision Show, held in Boston, Massachusetts May 25-27, had at about 1,900 visitors double the attendees of 2009's show and conference. The positive response to the show and conference parallel the recovery of the market and growth in the industries that are seeking vision and imaging solutions. The show is North America's largest stand alone machine vision and imaging technology show, sponsored by the Automated Imaging Association (AIA). It featured vision and imaging technologies from 82 leading companies and featured cameras, optics, lighting, software, components and complete vision systems. Nearly 1900 people registered from 19 countries to see new technology innovations launched at the show.

"We were pleasantly surprised with the quantity and quality of the attendees at this years' Vision Show. We were naturally a bit concerned going into the show due to the remaining uncertainties in the economy and restricted travel budgets but attendance seemed to reflect the pick-up we are seeing in the US with our camera customers. We found many new potential customers and new applications that give us optimism towards an even brighter future for Basler and the machine vision industry," commented John Jennings, Chief Commercial Officer at Basler Vision Technologies.

"Point Grey has been exhibiting at The Vision Show since 1999, and over that time we've seen it become one of the most important machine vision trade shows in the world. We were particularly pleased with this year's event. There was good overall traffic in our booth and the quality of the visitors was very high. Many customers approached us with specific projects and well-defined camera requirements, so we are anticipating an increase in business as a result of our attendance," said Vladimir Tucakov, Director of Sales & Marketing at Point Grey Research, Inc.

The AIA stated that one of the goals for this year's show was to reach a broad spectrum of industries, providing a hands-on opportunity to see how vision can help companies find innovative ways to increase quality, streamline processes, and find better ways to increase production efficiencies, all while keeping in line with their goal to reduce costs. "Registrants came from traditional sectors that use vision, such as aerospace, pharmaceuticals, automotive, food and beverage, military/defense, semiconductor, medical device, consumer goods and electronics," said Rusty Ponce de Leon, Chairman of the AIA and President of Phase 1 Technology Corp. "But we also saw people from high end security/surveillance, scientific imaging, entertainment, biometrics, mapping, metrology, energy, and intelligent signage, to name a few non-traditional industries."

New this year was a networking party held at the Hard Rock Café in Boston. Thanks to support from sponsor Advanced Illumination (a Vermont based lighting supplier), this party featured one of Boston's leading contemporary blues/rock bands, Ernie and the Automatics. The band features two original members of the band ‘Boston' and a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame saxophonist. The party welcomed 275 guests with the band playing two full sets and ending with some of the great ‘Boston' hits. "Advanced illumination was proud to help support an important networking event at The Vision Show," said John Merva, AIA Director and Executive Vice President of Ai. "So much business takes place at events like this, where you can get to know people better in a relaxed environment. Plus I'm a fan of Ernie and the Automatics, so it was a fantastic night."