OMRON Electronic Components Europe has introduced a new safety-camera module aimed at improving worker protection in cleanroom environments.
Known as the HVC-P2 module, the camera is pre-trained to detect operators wearing specialised cleanroom garments, addressing a longstanding challenge for vision-based safety systems.
“The advanced detection technology embedded in our new camera modules delivers an ideal solution for the next generation of intelligent factories, concentrating safety at the edge for consistent real-time responsiveness and inherent data privacy,” said Gabriele Fulco, Product Marketing Manager at OMRON Electronic Components Europe.
How does the camera keep cleanroom workers safe?
The camera combines compact hardware with embedded firmware and algorithms developed to recognise human body characteristics when workers are clothed in cleanroom PPE.
Such garments can distort visible body geometry, often reducing the accuracy of conventional pose-estimation models.
The module is designed to enhance safety across semiconductor, pharmaceutical, and food-processing automation, as well as other applications where operators work alongside equipment while wearing protective suits.
By generating a detection signal, the system allows central machine controllers to automatically prioritise safe operating modes when personnel are identified nearby.
Unlike alternative sensing methods, such as thermal or ultrasonic technologies, the model is engineered to overcome the limitations associated with conventional detection modalities.
Edge-based processing supports rapid response times while minimising unnecessary image transmission, an approach that also aligns with data-privacy considerations in controlled manufacturing environments.