Small batch manufacturing typical of modern production systems requires improved visual inspection of novel products for many defect types. Because each item inspected is different, inspectors cannot develop product-specific techniques to speed performance using traditional direct viewing. We performed two experiments to evaluate the use of binocular rivalry as an alternative to direct viewing in stereo viewing of product pairs. Both free stereo viewing (i.e., with no optical aids) and viewing with a stereoscope led to large increases in performance of searching for targets in extended symbol arrays. For increased target set size there was an expected increase in inspection time for direct viewing but no corresponding increase for stereo viewing. Binocular rivalry appears to be a promising, though difficult, tool for facilitating visual inspection, as it both improves performance and appears to allow parallel processing of targets.
