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High speed M&M sorting machine

reviewmylife.co.uk

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Re: High speed M&M sorting machine

#31

Post by MichaelApproved »

batguano wrote: post #14
forrest_t wrote: post #3

if only this existed back in Van Halen's heyday http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Halen#Contract_riders

"This American Life" did a great segment explaining (as does your wikipedia link) why the M&M's were a legit safety concern--and not just a prima-donna move by self-indulgent rock stars: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/386/t...

IIRC, the reason they have strange requests is so they know the crew actually went through the list and fulfilled all requests. Asking for only red M&M sounds silly but if you see a bowl of red M&Ms in your trailer, you know the crew was more likely to be diligent with the other requests. Those other requests being sound equipment and safty measures.

The point wasn't to have red M&Ms, though they taste good, it was a test to see how well the crew followed instructions.

Re: High speed M&M sorting machine

#34

Post by spelunker »

Animats wrote: post #17

That's low-speed sorting. This is high-speed sorting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DogZJmThRSE That's a high-speed computer-vision optical pea sorter. Yes, each and every pea in that huge flow of peas is examined by a computer vision system. Tiny high-speed air jets are kicking out the rejects during the brief period the peas are in free flight. Here's a blueberry sorting machine, throwing out anything that doesn'…

My dad used to work for Key Technology. They did some fascinating stuff. They had teams of hardware engineers trying to push as much sorting logic into hardware to meet the speed requirements they were looking for.

Re: High speed M&M sorting machine

#35

Post by Igglyboo »

51Cards wrote: post #10
legumepacket wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I just picked up a couple Mindstorms kits" "I just bought a couple of Mindstorm kits"

Thank you, however: - adding "bought" makes an assumption on their source - "Mindstorms", plural, is the name of the kit

Just to add on to this for any non-native speakers.

"picked up" in this context could be replaced with "acquired" without changing the meaning.

Re: High speed M&M sorting machine

#36

Post by zwieback »

spelunker wrote: post #34
Animats wrote: post #17

That's low-speed sorting. This is high-speed sorting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DogZJmThRSE That's a high-speed computer-vision optical pea sorter. Yes, each and every pea in that huge flow of peas is examined by a computer vision system. Tiny high-speed air jets are kicking out the rejects during the brief period the peas are in free flight. Here's a blueberry sorting machine, throwing out anything that doesn'…

My dad used to work for Key Technology. They did some fascinating stuff. They had teams of hardware engineers trying to push as much sorting logic into hardware to meet the speed requirements they were looking for.

I saw their stuff in action in french fry plants in Idaho. Awesome stuff, especially considering the hostile environment those machines are deployed in.

Re: High speed M&M sorting machine

#37

Post by Crito »

Animats wrote: post #17

That's low-speed sorting. This is high-speed sorting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DogZJmThRSE That's a high-speed computer-vision optical pea sorter. Yes, each and every pea in that huge flow of peas is examined by a computer vision system. Tiny high-speed air jets are kicking out the rejects during the brief period the peas are in free flight. Here's a blueberry sorting machine, throwing out anything that doesn'…

In what now seems like a previous life, I once had a job sorting produce by hand (mostly picking out stick/stems, and animal parts) from a conveyor belt zipping in front of me. Even back then CV machines existed for at least some produce, but the plant I was working at had not yet updated.

This kind of work required a dozen or more people standing along the (much slower) conveyor belt, each trying to grab what the previous worker missed. Even at minimum wage, that sort of labor isn't cheap. This is truly amazing technology.

Re: High speed M&M sorting machine

#40

Post by moron4hire »

Animats wrote: post #17

That's low-speed sorting. This is high-speed sorting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DogZJmThRSE That's a high-speed computer-vision optical pea sorter. Yes, each and every pea in that huge flow of peas is examined by a computer vision system. Tiny high-speed air jets are kicking out the rejects during the brief period the peas are in free flight. Here's a blueberry sorting machine, throwing out anything that doesn'…

Silly fool, this hobbiest! How dare he publish his homegrown, COTS work on the internet, lest we pedantic assholes compare him to well-funded, full-time engineering efforts.
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