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Who here wants a card sorting robot?

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67Topps

Member
Sep 8, 2015
45
0
That's fascinating. And if he sold a software update for $5 for each set, then it's scalable.
 

finestkind

Well-known member
Aug 17, 2008
3,986
901
Massachusetts
I don't have the money for 16 cases like he does. I don't need a robot to sort my cards. It would take the fun out of it. Some times. :p
 

mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,187
4,091
I could see a great use for that type of technology to handle tedious sorting duties, whether it be by team, card number, player name, etc. I know some folks would rather do this manually, but I would guess most of those are people who don't deal in the bulk quantities that make sorting laborious. Anyone who is dealing with bulk cards and has no personal interest in the sorting process should love something like this. I have been trying to get all of my cards sorted by player for some time. Sorting a 5000 count box by name takes hours for me, because I typically have to sort them several times (space constraints) starting with A-L, M and N-Z. Then I sort each grouping by 4 or so (A-D, E-H, I-L, etc), then I sort each 4 letter group into their own letter, finally into alphabetical order by each letter. There is a better way, but I'd need space and the ability to leave them out for long periods of time. This doesn't work, so typically I do a little bit at a time while watching tv in the evenings until I grow so tired of it and the box sits for weeks waiting for me to motivate myself to sort again.

I also like the idea of something scanning cards automatically and much faster than we can now do it manually. I think if someone could automate that process w/o damaging the cards, they might become millionaires!
 

rsmath

Active member
Nov 8, 2008
6,086
1
I thought it was impressive to see a M&M candy color sorter robot and now there is a card sorter robot!

I give the guy mad props - parts sourced from a place I like (sparkfun) and it is a card sorter that actually handles the cards the way I would want them handled if done robotically (the suction idea instead of robotic hand grabbing). I have to question the speed of sort and the durability of the motors as well as having to constantly fill the hopper and align the cards in the same direction as you rip open packs and place in the hopper so the card number shows up in the same place. I have a feeling version 2 will have a rotating hopper so when the camera notices one hopper is empty, it will rotate a new hopper into place to continue the sorting until all hoppers are empty.
 

tramers

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
23,286
2,284
hickory nc
I could see a great use for that type of technology to handle tedious sorting duties, whether it be by team, card number, player name, etc. I know some folks would rather do this manually, but I would guess most of those are people who don't deal in the bulk quantities that make sorting laborious. Anyone who is dealing with bulk cards and has no personal interest in the sorting process should love something like this. I have been trying to get all of my cards sorted by player for some time. Sorting a 5000 count box by name takes hours for me, because I typically have to sort them several times (space constraints) starting with A-L, M and N-Z. Then I sort each grouping by 4 or so (A-D, E-H, I-L, etc), then I sort each 4 letter group into their own letter, finally into alphabetical order by each letter. There is a better way, but I'd need space and the ability to leave them out for long periods of time. This doesn't work, so typically I do a little bit at a time while watching tv in the evenings until I grow so tired of it and the box sits for weeks waiting for me to motivate myself to sort again.

I also like the idea of something scanning cards automatically and much faster than we can now do it manually. I think if someone could automate that process w/o damaging the cards, they might become millionaires!

I use 3200 counts not as heavy -- 200 plus =800,000 inventory 90% same as yours
 

mattglet

New member
Aug 14, 2017
27
2
NH
I also like the idea of something scanning cards automatically and much faster than we can now do it manually. I think if someone could automate that process w/o damaging the cards, they might become millionaires!

I'm pretty sure they exist and COMC uses them. I don't have any evidence other than anecdotal "I think I remember someone saying something about it somewhere".
 

tpeichel

Well-known member
Oct 10, 2008
15,639
119
I'm pretty sure they exist and COMC uses them. I don't have any evidence other than anecdotal "I think I remember someone saying something about it somewhere".

The card scanning technology is what set COMC apart and made it viable.
 

mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,187
4,091
I guess I just assumed they had a bunch of minimum wagers scanning 8 hours a day.
 

rsmath

Active member
Nov 8, 2008
6,086
1
A nice feature would be if the robot could detect the Topps code on back and set aside the variations.

I think that might be difficult considering the code doesn't always fall in the same location on each card plus who knows if the resolution of the camera is enough to read the fine print clearly enough to do OCR.

Good news is that variations seem to fall about in the middle of packs (at least in flagship that I have opened before) so as you rip open packs and get them arranged in the right order for putting in the sorting source bin, you should be able to pick out the inserts and variations rather easily.

Something else hit me from earlier postings that I want to address. I know some have asked for player or team sorting but that might not be doable. I think the article says the stacks are limited to 12, so that would pretty much mean you have a stack of select players and an "everyone else" stack or a stack of certain teams and a "every other team" stack since you need to keep the output stacks to 12 or so. I suppose you'd also need a checklist database in the computer code as I'm not sure you could OCR recognize team logos. Since we know the robot can read card numbers and presumably player names, the robot could do a quick card number lookup to the checklist in the computer code to determine what team stack to move the card onto or sort the card in player stacks depending on what player name was OCR'ed.
 
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David K.

Active member
Aug 26, 2008
1,338
12
Fresno, CA
I'll pass on it.....Love sorting the new products.....under 100 in this pile, 100 to 199 is the second pile, 200 to 299 in the three pile and 300 to 399 in the four pile..etc. Best regards, David
 

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