Cognex Appoints Senior Director of New In-Vehicle Vision Sensors Business Unit.

NATICK, Mass. -- Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX), the world's leading supplier of machine vision sensors and systems, has announced the appointment of Pascal Dorster as Senior Director of In-Vehicle Vision Sensors (IVVS). Mr. Dorster will oversee development and marketing of Cognex vision products that are designed specifically for use inside vehicles, where they will enhance safety by providing automated assistance to drivers of cars, trucks and busses. Mr. Dorster will report to Cognex President James F. Hoffmaster.

Using CMOS sensors, digital signal processors and Cognex-developed vision software, these sophisticated in-vehicle sensors can be used to continuously monitor the space surrounding a vehicle (in front, in back, and to both sides) and provide immediate feedback to drivers when a potentially dangerous condition exists. For example, Cognex's SafeTRAC(TM) sensor analyzes the road ahead and warns the driver when his vehicle is likely to cross into another lane unintentionally.

"For many years, the application of machine vision to vehicles has been just an interesting research topic; but very recently, automobile manufacturers in Europe and Japan have started to introduce vehicles with vision sensors to aid drivers and enhance safety," said Dr. Robert J. Shillman, Cognex's Chairman and CEO. "Although we expect that it will take many years for these sensors to be deployed in large numbers, the market potential is enormous. Because of that, Cognex recently entered the in-vehicle market with the acquisition of AssistWare Technology, a privately held developer of Lane Departure Warning (LDW) systems for heavy trucks."

Dr. Shillman continued, "The appointment of Pascal Dorster to head up our in-vehicle vision effort will significantly enhance Cognex's ability to penetrate this growing industry. Pascal is a smart, dynamic executive with extensive experience working closely with auto manufacturers and their suppliers to specify and develop sophisticated electronic components for use in vehicles. His addition to our team will greatly accelerate Cognex's efforts to develop new and innovative products, to close new customers and, finally, to capitalize on the potential of this emerging market."

"Building this new business is an exciting opportunity, both for me and for Cognex," said Mr. Dorster. "In-vehicle vision addresses a key concern in automotive designOsafety. And, it also opens the door to new applications that enhance comfort and driving pleasure, such as intelligent cruise control, automated parking assistance, and sign recognition. As the world's leader in the machine vision industry with an impressive 25-year track record of turning difficult vision problems into high-performance products, Cognex is ideally suited to become the leader in this exciting, and potentially very large, market."

Mr. Dorster joins Cognex after 12 years in increasingly responsible positions at Texas Instruments. He most recently served at their Houston DSP headquarters as Business Manager in charge of increasing TI's market share, worldwide, for DSPs in new applications including in-vehicle vision, video surveillance and video conferencing. Prior to that, he served as Program Manager for the Texas Instruments C5000 DSP, managing the release process from R&D to end customer. Mr. Dorster holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Ecole Francaise d'Electronique et d'Informatique (EFREI), and an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas, Austin.

About Cognex

Cognex Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and markets machine vision sensors and systems, or devices that can "see." Cognex vision sensors are used in factories around the world to automate the manufacture of a wide range of items and to assure their quality. Cognex is the world's leader in the machine vision industry, having shipped more than 350,000 machine vision systems, representing over $2 billion in cumulative revenue, since the company's founding in 1981. In addition to its corporate headquarters in Natick, Massachusetts, Cognex also has regional offices and distributors located throughout North America, Japan, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Visit Cognex on-line at http://www.cognex.com.