The Engineering Research Center of Precision Electronic Manufacturing Equipment (EME), as the third Ministerial Engineering Research Center in the South China Technology of University, was approved in 2007 by the national Ministry of Education. The EME center agglomerates the resources of precision electronic manufacturing field in SCUT, concentrates on the technological innovation and high-level personnel training for precision electronic packaging, assembly and testing equipment.

The center, in collaboration with AKM Industrial Co., Ltd., Tsinghua University, Huawei, and others, jointly undertook the National Major Science and Technology Project 02 special topic Research, Development, and Industrialization of Roll-to-Roll High-Density Ultra-Thin Flexible Packaging Substrate Technology. Specifically, the center was responsible for the research and development of a production process monitoring system for ultra-high-density roll-to-roll flexible packaging substrates. By addressing quality inspection, management, and optimization across the entire process, the center made breakthroughs in automated monitoring and management for high-density flexible substrate production. The system has been successfully developed, debugged, and validated through application on large-scale production lines at partner enterprises.

In partnership with the Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,  ‌Unicomp Technology (Group) Co., Ltd.‌, Shenzhen Desen Precision Equipment Co., Ltd, and other enterprises, the center led the National 863 Program project Precision Surface Mount Technology and Complete Equipment. According to incomplete data released by relevant companies during the 2020 China SMT Summit, the series of equipment, including pick-and-place machines, printers, and optical inspection instruments, achieved an annual production and sales volume of 3,000 units, with an output value exceeding 1.5 billion yuan in 2020. This has strongly driven the localization process of key SMT work cell series equipment in China's electronics manufacturing industry. The center has played a leading and driving role in the development of the SMT equipment industry, and its technological achievements have been widely recognized by the industry.

The center collaborated with Guangdong Lyric Robot Automation Co.,Ltd. on research related to the detection of appearance defects in power batteries. The collaboration aims to apply fully automated defect detection equipment across various stages of power battery production. Additionally, the center partnered with Guangdong Rankgood Optical Network Communication Co., Ltd. to jointly develop key technologies such as intelligent vision inspection and positioning systems for precision packaging of optical communication chips, high-speed, high-precision, and high-response servo drive technology and motion control systems, key processes for optoelectronic precision packaging, and the integration of high-speed, high-precision machine vision and control systems. These efforts are aimed at breaking the monopoly of foreign companies, improving and upgrading China's optical communication manufacturing industry chain, and promoting the healthy and rapid development of the optical communication industry, which holds significant importance.

The center has consistently focused on continuous technological innovation in multi-scale appearance defect detection. By applying high-speed precision vision detection technology that flexibly combines metallographic microscopes and industrial cameras, the center has conducted research in four key areas: adaptive lighting design, image acquisition and stitching, precision detection, and intelligent analysis, resulting in core intellectual property rights. This work not only provides a fully automated intelligent multi-scale defect detection and analysis instrument of significant scientific importance for the international high-density flexible printed circuit board strategic emerging industry but also greatly promotes theoretical innovation in machine vision detection for complex objects based on differential geometry and point set topology. It holds substantial scientific research significance and industrial application prospects.