IMAGE ANALYSIS

Masking
Calibration
Morphology
Binarization
Histograms
Blob Analysis
Image Filtering
Regions of Interest
Barcode/Data Matrix Reading
Character Recognition/Verification
Sub-Pixel Resolution Edge Detection
Edge Based Geometric Pattern Matching
Normalized Grayscale Correlation Pattern Matching

SOFTWARE

NI VBAI Vision Builder for Automated Inspection
Cognex In-Sight Explorer
Microsoft Visual Studio
Basler Python SDK

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Machine Vision Application Engineer: Radiant Vision Systems - Redmond Washington (5.5 years)
- Wrote 3,000 line HALCON in-factory automated inspection systems for measuring dimensions, line widths, and CIE L*a*b* colors of laser markings on high-volume consumer electronic products.
- Co-developed and documented ACIS™ Area Color Inspection System.
- Wrote user manual for the INSPECT™ Advanced Machine Vision Toolkit.
- Developed external housing factory inspection system for network servers.

AUTOMATE 2017 Presentation: Techniques for Suppressing Adverse Lighting to Improve Vision System Success, April 5, 2017

THE VISION SHOW 2016 Presentation: Optimizing Vision Systems to Maximize Product Quality and Yield, May 3, 2016.

Quality Magazine Article: Set Your Limits, July 2, 2014

Machine Vision Engineer: Machine Vision Engineering LLC - Corvallis Oregon (3 years)
- Upgraded 12-camera pharmaceutical inspection system.
- Designed vision system for warehouse order fulfillment stations.
- Wrote image capture software for automated vegetation environmental monitoring application.

Senior Vision Engineer: ATS Systems - Corvallis Oregon (8 years)
- Prototyped, designed, configured, tested, and delivered more than a dozen successful automated manufacturing systems that each employed between 1 and 20 cameras.
- Extensive experience with Cognex In-Sight Explorer.
- Experienced user of NI Vision Builder software and GigE Vision cameras.
- Wrote successful 15 camera Visual C++ vision application (edge detectors, blob analysis, GigE Vision SDK).
- Set up vision prototyping lab.
- Laser safety officer.

Senior Software Engineer: Intel Portland Technology Development - Hillsboro Oregon (17 years)
- Co-developed proprietary C++ statistical process control (SPC) application used to ensure quality and yield of microprocessors.
- Installed, upgraded, and maintained (24x7) applications for material and equipment tracking at Intel technology development fab.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

IEEE Robotics and Automation Society
Portland Chapter -  founder & president (3 years)
- Arranged guest speaker presentations on UAVs, the 2005 and 2007 DARPA Grand/Urban Challenge, the Intel OpenCV computer vision library, Microsoft Robotics Studio, and industrial machine vision applications.
- Meeting attendance: 10-100 professional engineers.

Conferences Attended:

- ATX East, New York NY, Jun 2018

- The Vision Show, Boston MA, Apr 2018

- ATX West, Anaheim CA, Feb 2018

- Automate, Chicago IL, Apr 2017

- AIA Canadian Machine Vision Conference, Richmond BC, Oct 2016

- The Vision Show, Boston MA, May 2016

- AIA Vision in Life Sciences Conference, San Diego CA, Nov 2015

- Automate, Chicago IL, Jan 2013

- Robots and Vision Show, Rosemont IL, Jun 2009

- DARPA Urban Challenge, Victorville CA, Nov 2007

- Robots and Vision Show, Rosemont IL, Jun 2007

- International Conference on Robots and Automation, Orlando FL, May 2006

- International Conference on Advanced Robotics, Seattle WA, Jul 2005

- DARPA Grand Challenge, Primm NV, Mar 2005

- AAAI Symposium on Developmental Robotics, Stanford CA, Mar 2005

- British Machine Vision Conference, Edinburgh UK, Sep 1996

- AAAI National Conference on AI, Portland OR, Aug 1996

- UAI Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, Portland OR, Aug 1996

EDUCATION

"Nelson has been an integral part of our department for over 5 years and will be sincerely missed here at Radiant Vision. During his time with us, Nelson has brought his dedication and positive attitude to every project and was the lead developer of the successful ETCH project. Aside from his professional achievements, Nelson has been a wonderful colleague and a friend to many of us. His willingness to lend a helping hand, share knowledge, and offer encouragement has created a lasting impression on our team."
Paul M. Zink, Director, Advanced Vision and Project Engineering
Radiant Vision Systems

"Nelson and I came into a large and complex vision project on a machine at one of our divisions that was poorly executed by an external vision contractor who was let go 2/3rds of the way through the project. The project had 14 cameras each performing different and difficult inspection tasks, and the software, documentation and specifications were left in incomplete and unknown states. Nelson did a great job navigating the company out of this difficult predicament by stepping in and taking the system through to successful completion, while spending many days far away from home at that division. The customer is happy with and is using the equipment actively."
Jay Stavnitzky, Senior Vision Engineer
ATS Automation Tooling Systems

"I have worked with Nelson for over 8 years and have found him to be a well-educated resource for machine vision and the associated accoutrements. His knowledge of lensing, lighting and algorithm development is vast and current with today’s technology. Need an explanation or usage case for a special pre-processing filter? Nelson has the experience, the answer and the ability to help. If you are ever in need of a vision expert to get you through a tough project, I would recommend Nelson."
Paul Woodhouse, Automation Sales Engineer
Olympus Controls

"Nelson has been our number 1 vision engineer at ATS for the last 8 years. He is very talented and good with people."
Joe Sullivan, Senior Mechanical Engineer
ATS Automation Tooling Systems