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High-precision telecentric line scan lenses purpose-built for robotic vision guidance, part alignment, and automated spatial measurement in smart manufacturing environments.
The convergence of robotic automation and precision optical sensing is reshaping global manufacturing. Here's where the industry stands today.
The global machine vision market exceeded USD 14 billion in 2024 and is projected to surpass USD 26 billion by 2030, driven largely by robotic guidance and automated inspection systems. Line scan camera lenses represent the fastest-growing optical subsegment due to their unmatched throughput in continuous-motion environments.
Modern industrial robots increasingly rely on embedded vision modules to perform real-time positioning, bin picking, and assembly verification. Line scan lenses enable these robots to capture continuous, distortion-free image strips at speeds exceeding 100,000 lines per second — a capability no area-scan optic can match in conveyor-based workflows.
As component miniaturization intensifies — especially in semiconductor, PCB, and EV battery manufacturing — positional tolerances have tightened to ±1 µm or below. Telecentric line scan lenses eliminate perspective error and magnification shift, making them the only viable solution for sub-pixel robotic positioning at scale.
Line scan telecentric lenses unlock a broad spectrum of robotic positioning scenarios. Explore the most commercially significant deployments driving adoption today.
Surface-mount technology (SMT) lines demand micron-level placement accuracy for chips, capacitors, and connectors. Robots equipped with line scan lenses continuously scan the PCB surface as it moves beneath the pick-and-place head, detecting pad positions and correcting robot trajectory in real time. Telecentric optics ensure that component edges at different heights are measured with identical magnification — eliminating height-induced parallax that would otherwise cause misalignment.
In semiconductor fabs, robotic arms must position wafers to within ±0.5 µm before dicing or bonding operations. High-magnification telecentric line scan lenses mounted on wafer inspection robots capture full-wafer edge profiles and alignment marks at nanometer-level resolution. This enables closed-loop robotic correction that prevents costly yield loss from misaligned die cuts.
Electric vehicle battery manufacturing requires precise stacking of anode and cathode layers, with tab welding tolerances below 50 µm. Line scan robots guided by telecentric lenses inspect each layer's edge position as the stack is assembled, feeding real-time correction data to the stacking robot. This application has seen explosive demand growth as global EV production scales toward 40 million units annually by 2030.
OLED and LCD display bonding robots must align glass substrates to within ±2 µm across panel widths exceeding 600mm. Wide-field line scan telecentric lenses spanning 82mm image circles capture the full panel edge in a single pass, providing the robotic bonding system with precise positional feedback to correct for thermal expansion and substrate warp in real time.
Robotic inspection systems in aerospace manufacturing use line scan lenses to scan fuselage panels, wing ribs, and fastener holes at high speed. The zero-distortion characteristics of telecentric optics ensure that hole diameter and positional measurements are accurate regardless of the robot's scanning angle — critical for airworthiness certification and automated drilling robots that must locate existing holes for structural repair.
Robotic dispensing and packaging lines in pharmaceutical manufacturing rely on line scan vision to verify tablet position, capsule orientation, and vial fill levels at throughputs exceeding 1,000 units per minute. Telecentric line scan lenses provide consistent edge detection regardless of product height variation — enabling robots to reject defective units and precisely position caps for torque application.
The next generation of robotic positioning systems will be shaped by five converging technology trends — all of which amplify the strategic value of precision line scan lenses.
Machine learning models are increasingly deployed directly on robotic vision processors, enabling real-time defect classification and positional correction without round-tripping data to a central server. Line scan lenses with ultra-low distortion and consistent illumination uniformity are essential inputs to these AI pipelines — garbage optics produce garbage training data. Canrill's telecentric designs achieve <0.1% distortion, ensuring AI models receive geometrically accurate image data that generalizes reliably across production batches.
Cobots operating alongside human workers require compact, lightweight vision modules that can be repositioned quickly. The trend toward miniaturized telecentric line scan lenses — maintaining optical performance in smaller form factors — is accelerating to meet cobot integration requirements. Compact C-mount telecentric lenses with 23mm sensor coverage are seeing particularly strong adoption in cobot-guided assembly tasks.
Next-generation robotic positioning systems are fusing standard 2D line scan data with structured light, laser triangulation, and hyperspectral imaging to build complete 3D surface maps in real time. Telecentric lenses serve as the geometric anchor in these fusion systems — their zero parallax imaging ensures that 2D and 3D data layers register precisely, enabling robots to navigate complex 3D workpiece geometries without accumulated positional error.
Camera manufacturers are pushing line scan resolutions to 16K and beyond, enabling single-pass inspection of increasingly wide web materials — solar panels, display glass, lithium battery foil — without stitching artifacts. This resolution race demands lenses with correspondingly high MTF performance across the full 82mm+ image circle. Canrill's 16K telecentric line scan lens is engineered specifically for this emerging requirement, delivering diffraction-limited performance at the image periphery.
AMRs navigating factory floors increasingly use line scan vision modules for precise docking at charging stations, conveyor interfaces, and robotic work cells. Telecentric lenses mounted on AMR docking sensors provide consistent positional feedback regardless of approach angle variation, enabling reliable sub-millimeter docking accuracy at speeds up to 2 m/s — a critical requirement for lights-out factory automation.
Four core optical properties make telecentric line scan lenses the definitive choice for robot-guided positioning systems.
Telecentric design ensures that object size appears identical regardless of distance variation within the depth of field — eliminating the #1 source of positional error in robotic vision.
Ultra-low distortion (<0.1%) and high MTF across the full sensor width enable robotic vision algorithms to locate part edges with sub-pixel precision — essential for ±1µm positioning accuracy.
Line scan architecture captures images at up to 100,000+ lines per second, enabling robots to perform real-time positional correction on parts moving at full production line speed without motion blur.
82mm image circle coverage enables single-pass inspection of wide workpieces, eliminating the need for multi-camera stitching and the positional uncertainty it introduces into robotic guidance systems.
"From manufacturing to creation, we are on the way."
Our objective is to produce a top-level lens and become one of the leaders in telecentric technology.
Canrill Optics, established in 2009, is the first one to focus on the manufacturing & marketing of telecentric lens and telecentric lens design in China, and the only one to build the complete supply chain with our own mechanical factory and optical factory in industry lens all over the world.
Over the years, as a custom lens manufacturer, Canrill lens has been upgraded four generations with advanced technology and performance, earned the trust from worldwide clients, and have successfully made cooperation with world-famous brands, like Samsung, Apple, LG, Huawei, Han's Laser, TSMC, etc.
Since founding Canrill in 2009, Simon has been focused on building the world's leading manufacturer of telecentric lenses. Under Simon's leadership, Canrill has grown into a 100+ person company which is renowned in both China and overseas.
Senior optical designer, with 10+ years' experience in the design and inspection of telecentric lens and lights.
15+ years' experience in the mechanical design of precision optical instruments and industrial lens systems.
Canrill ISO 9001
Lens Cone RoHS Certificate 1
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Lens Cone RoHS Certificate 3
Lens Cone RoHS Certificate
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