Plug-and-play platform will speed up development of vision applications
19 December 2025 
A Norwegian optics specialist has teamed up with a US imaging system developer to offer a Raspberry-Pi-based platform that allows machine vision designers to evaluate high-speed, constant field-of-view focusing functions quickly and easily on existing computing platforms.
Historically, machine vision OEMs have had to rely on fixed-focus cameras with small apertures to achieve sufficient depth-of-focus, limiting their applications. Norway-based poLight ASA and US-based Image Quality Labs (IQL) say that their “cost-competitive” Pi TLens Studio evaluation and development platform will allow OEMs to rapidly ramp up machine vision applications with constant field-of-view focusing.
The platform uses poLight’s TLens tunable optics technology, which is already used to replicate the behaviour of the human eye in devices such as smartphones, barcode scanners and medical equipment. The patented technology is said to offer benefits such as extremely fast focussing (around 1ms), a small footprint, immunity to magnetic interference, low power consumption (around 1mW), and a constant field-of-view.
The evaluation kit allows developers to test the performance of the TLens technology, integrate it with their existing software stacks, and accelerate camera-driven innovation in industrial automation, robotics, edge AI and inspection systems.
In machine vision applications, the technology will allow engineers to set and change object/focal distances rapidly to accommodate different scenarios. Designed around the Raspberry Pi 5 and an M12 optical architecture, the platform will initially support TLens-enabled camera modules using Sony IMX462 and IMX900 image sensors, which support low-light, high-speed applications.
“Our customers are continually looking for ways to push image quality, autofocus performance, and system responsiveness,” says IQL’s founder and CEO, Jason Cope. “This Raspberry Pi TLens Studio platform provides a plug-and-play way to evaluate TLens behaviour in minutes, not months. Partnering with poLight allows us to bring advanced focusing capabilities directly into the hands of machine vision developers.”
The lenses will be available initially in a 7.5mm focal length, to be followed by 6mm, 13mm and 19mm versions.
