“There must be a better way!” says Michael Engel, and invents the first industry-ready smart camera, the VC11, with which he founds the company Vision Components in 1996. For the first time, the VC11 combines image capture and image processing in a compact, series-ready camera system. The VC11 was a huge success for Vision Components and remains a pioneer in the development of smart cameras to this day.

Since then, numerous other innovations have come out of Ettlingen—from the world's first vision sensor VCM30/50E in 2001, to board cameras and 3D laser triangulation sensors with onboard data processing, to the introduction of the VC MIPI® camera modules in 2018, which make the integration of embedded vision even faster, easier, and more cost-effective.

“There must be a better way!” – this motto continues to drive us forward today. To mark its 30th anniversary in 2026, Vision Components presents the VC EvoCam – a new generation of even more flexible and powerful board cameras.