Centralized analytics of multiple visual inspection appliances

A visual inspection data collection and analysis system, comprising:

• a. a plurality of visual inspection appliances (VIA) configured to acquire visual inspection data relating to inspected items, each of the plurality of VIAs comprising a flexible mounting assembly, an inspection camera, a lighting source and a controller, the inspection camera and the lighting source being connected to and controlled by the controller;
• and
• b. a data collection and analytics server (DCAS) in communication with the plurality of VIAS over a communications network and configured to:
• receive the visual inspection data from at least one of said multiple VIAs;
• automatically detect and register under a unique identifier a new VIA connecting to the network, based on a signal sent over the network from either one or both of the new VIA and DCAS;
• receive visual inspection data from the new VIA;
• and
• initiate an activity in the new VIA based on the unique identifier;
• wherein defect free items are processed in a setup stage in which the controller learns parameters of the defect free items captured in images obtained by the inspection camera.