AI Stack Light Monitoring for CNC & Manufacturing Machines
See When Your Machines Stop — Without Connecting to Every Machine
AI Bot Eye uses suitable existing CCTV views to monitor visible machine stack lights and record running, idle, warning and stopped time.
No PLC access. No CNC controller integration. No monitoring device on every machine.
- Works with suitable existing CCTV
- On-premise edge AI
- No PLC or controller integration
- Multiple machines per suitable camera view
The Hidden Loss
The Downtime That Hurts Most Is Often the Downtime Nobody Records
Major breakdowns are noticed.
The harder losses are the repeated five-minute, eight-minute, or ten-minute stoppages happening across machines throughout the day.
Supervisors cannot watch every stack light continuously. Operators may record major failures but miss shorter interruptions. Production reports may show lower output without clearly showing where available machine time was lost.
AI Bot Eye turns visible stack-light changes into a machine-wise status history, helping production teams see recurring inactivity that may otherwise remain scattered across the shift.
The downtime nobody records is often where available machine time quietly disappears.
Machine 01 · Line A One production shift · 08:00 – 16:00
See It Happen
Watch Machine Status Change in Real Time
Watch both change together: the physical stack light and its corresponding AI status.
As the physical stack light changes, AI Bot Eye updates the corresponding machine status in real time.
No PLC or controller integration is required. The state change is recognised visually from the existing camera feed.
Machine-wise identification
Each visible stack light is mapped to its machine.
Visible state recognition
Configured states are classified using site logic.
Timestamped status changes
Confirmed changes build a machine-wise timeline.
How It Works
Your Machines Already Show Their Status. AI Bot Eye Makes It Measurable.
Machine stack lights are designed to communicate operating conditions to people on the production floor.
AI Bot Eye observes those same visible signals through suitable camera views and converts confirmed changes into structured machine-state records.
Review the camera view
Assess stack-light visibility, angle, distance, resolution, lighting, reflections, obstructions, and stream compatibility.
Map every visible machine
Identify each machine and its stack-light region within the selected camera view.
Configure machine states
Map green, amber, red, off, blinking, or combined light states to the plant’s operating logic.
Record status changes
Register confirmed state changes and duration into machine-wise histories for production review.
Stack-light meanings differ between machines and factories. Final status names and logic must be configured during deployment.
Production Visibility
See More Than a Red or Green Light
A stack light is useful to the person standing near the machine. AI Bot Eye makes that visible status reviewable across machines, shifts, and days.
Stack light → existing CCTV feed → machine-wise status history
Now
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Current visible machine state
See whether a monitored machine is currently showing a configured running, idle, warning, stopped, or inactive state.
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Time spent in each state
Review how long each confirmed visible state continued.
Today
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Machine-wise daily timeline
See when machine states changed during the day instead of relying only on end-of-shift recollection.
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Repeated short-stoppage patterns
Identify machines and time periods where short inactive or warning states repeatedly occur.
Over time
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Shift-wise and day-wise summaries
Review broader patterns across operating periods.
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Historical machine-state records
Compare visible state behaviour across selected machines and dates.
The exact dashboard, summaries, exports, and alert workflows should reflect the deployed system. Do not display UI mock-ups for features that are not currently available.
Why Visual Monitoring
Machine Visibility Without Machine-Level Integration
Direct machine integration provides deeper controller data, but often requires machine-specific hardware, protocols and installation. AI Bot Eye provides visible machine-state history across suitable mixed or legacy equipment—without connecting to every machine individually.
Two approaches to machine visibility
One suitable camera
Several visible machines.
No individual controller connection required for visible-state monitoring.
AI Bot Eye complements MES, OEE, SCADA and controller-level systems when production counts, rejection data, alarms, tool data, spindle data or complete OEE are required.
Proven on the Shop Floor
One System Across Multiple CNC Production Lines
At Rolex Rings Limited, AI Bot Eye monitors visible stack-light signals across several CNC production lines using existing production-floor camera views. One camera can monitor multiple machines where visibility permits.
The deployment has operated for more than a year across approximately 40 machines. Plant leadership reported that recurring short stoppages revealed through the system added up to approximately 30–45 minutes per machine per day.
One floor. Multiple machine states. Continuously recorded.
Coverage across multiple production lines
See how the deployment monitors multiple CNC lines and builds machine-wise status history.
Rolex Rings Limited · live CNC manufacturing deployment
Who It Is For
Built for Machine-Intensive Manufacturing Floors
The solution is strongest where many machines display visible status through stack lights, but direct integration across every machine would be slow, expensive, or impractical.
Industries
Strong-fit conditions
- Several machines or production lines need common visibility
- Stack lights are clearly visible from practical camera positions
- Supervisors currently rely heavily on manual observation
- Short recurring stoppages may not be consistently recorded
- The plant contains machines of different brands or ages
- Direct PLC or controller integration is not the preferred first step
- The production team wants machine-state timing before a larger MES or IoT project
Clear Scope
What AI Bot Eye Measures — and What It Does Not
AI Bot Eye can provide
Visibility derived from camera-observed machine states.
- Visible machine-state classification
- Duration of configured visible states
- Machine-wise status timelines
- Repeated inactive-state patterns
- Shift-wise and day-wise status visibility
- Historical records for production review
- Camera-based evidence from suitable views
Requires additional system data or integration
Information not available from visible stack lights alone.
- Exact component production counts
- Good-part or rejected-part counts
- CNC controller alarm codes
- Tool condition
- Spindle speed or feed rate
- Energy consumption
- Automatic stoppage root cause
- Complete OEE by itself
The practical outcome
Show when visible machines were running, waiting, warning, stopped or inactive—so the production team knows where to investigate.
FAQ
Common Questions From Plant and Production Teams
Does AI Bot Eye need a PLC or CNC controller connection?
No. For Stack Light Monitoring, AI Bot Eye visually observes the machine’s existing stack light through a suitable camera feed. It does not require PLC or controller access to monitor visible states.
Can it work with our existing CCTV?
Possibly. The camera must show the stack lights clearly enough for reliable machine-wise monitoring. We assess resolution, distance, angle, lighting, obstruction, and stream compatibility before recommending a deployment.
How many machines can one camera monitor?
There is no fixed number. One suitable view in the live deployment monitors 9 machines. Actual coverage depends on camera resolution, distance, angle, lighting, stack-light size, and whether every light remains clearly visible.
Can it monitor different machine brands?
Yes, where the machines use visible stack lights and the camera view is suitable. Because monitoring is visual, it does not depend on one common CNC controller protocol.
What do the light colours mean?
The system does not assume that every factory uses the same meanings. Green, amber, red, off, blinking, and combined states are mapped according to the machine and site-level operating logic.
Can it detect blinking stack lights?
Blinking states can be evaluated during the pilot. Reliability depends on camera frame rate, blink pattern, distance, image quality, and lighting.
Does it calculate OEE?
Not by itself. AI Bot Eye can contribute machine-state duration and availability visibility. Complete OEE also requires performance and quality data such as production counts, ideal cycle time, and rejected parts.
Can it tell us why a machine stopped?
Not from the stack light alone. It shows when a configured stopped, warning, idle, or inactive state occurred and how long it continued. The production team can then investigate or classify the reason.
Is processing cloud-based?
AI Bot Eye can process selected camera feeds locally through an on-premise edge system. Any remote dashboard, reporting, or integration should be configured according to the customer’s IT and security requirements.
Start With One Line
Start With One Suitable Camera View
Send your machine count, floor layout, or a camera screenshot. We assess stack-light visibility and practical coverage before recommending a pilot — no commitment to connect every machine individually.
A camera screenshot or short video helps, but is optional. The first discussion focuses on whether visible-state monitoring is practical for your floor.