Automation technology company SICK and machine vision company MVTec Software GmbH fortified an existing collaboration, signing an agreement that aims to increase the level of integration of MVTec software into SICK’s solutions. Martin Schenk, senior vice president of SICK product management (right), and MVTec’s managing director Olaf Munkelt shake hands after signing the collaboration agreement at the SPS trade fair in Nuremberg. Courtesy of MVTec. Per the agreement, algorithms of the standard machine vision software MVTec HALCON will also be available on both embedded and PC-based systems in SICK’s automation solutions. The integration of the machine vision standard software HALCON into SICK’s program ecosystem serves to allow a level of flexibility and scope of service in line with the current needs of the automation industry. According to Martin Schenk, senior vice president of product management at SICK, the companies existing OEMs and integrators will be able to profit from HALCON’s extensive developments. “In particular, our quality control systems benefit from the possibilities HALCON offers, for example with OCR and other image processing algorithms,” Schenk said. The companies have collaborated since 2015.