living sounds
Well-known member
Software utilizing a webcam to identify resistors:
http://armageddon421.de/?p=279
Now I want a smartphone app.
http://armageddon421.de/?p=279
Now I want a smartphone app.
Here's an ingenous idea - the resistor scanner
- Thread starter living sounds
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etheory
Well-known member
I'd considered doing this in the past, then I picked up my multimeter and stopped thinking about it.
jstark
Well-known member
<wipes figurative dust off long-unused openCV docs...>
Consul
Well-known member
Wow, this comes at just that time when I have an arse-load of resistors to sort. And I have a webcam I can set up, too.
pucho812
Well-known member
hmmmm easiest way to sort resistors is to group them then DMM the pile. so for example group all the red black red gold ones together. Then measure the lot. Or take time to learn resistor color codes.
Get a smart phone to recognize the vegetables and provide the product codes for check out at the super market.
I can imaging a sitting the vegetable on the bar code scanner it just recognizing what it is... maybe I should write science fiction.
JR
PS: I once loked into using an IR camera to help monitor power amp circuit boards during production and burn-in. Being able to see the actual temperature of individual components could be useful in that context. FWIW the guy I put on the power amp project never did anything with it, but this was well over a decade ago so technology was harder/more expensive back then than now.
I can imaging a sitting the vegetable on the bar code scanner it just recognizing what it is... maybe I should write science fiction.
JR
PS: I once loked into using an IR camera to help monitor power amp circuit boards during production and burn-in. Being able to see the actual temperature of individual components could be useful in that context. FWIW the guy I put on the power amp project never did anything with it, but this was well over a decade ago so technology was harder/more expensive back then than now.
Andy Peters
Well-known member
JohnRoberts said:
There's this: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/leafsnap/id430649829?mt=8
"This free mobile app uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves."
-a
Andy Peters said:
Yup, I'm just frustrated when I buy a bunch of real food at the Walmart (apparently not that common) and I have to tell the check out girls what the different vegetables are so they can look it up on a cheat sheet (what do they get fed at home?). This is not heavy lifting for some simple video pattern recognition. Even if it could reduce the choices down to two or three...
But apparently increasing the productivity of check out workers is not a high corporate priority. It seems supermarkets run on pretty narrow margins so things like this should matter.
JR
dmp
Well-known member
Hum... except the actual cost of throwing away what is still useful may not be apparent yet. Pollution isn't priced into a lot of things, although it is getting better with electronics. Anyway, throwing good stuff away to avoid the inconvenience of sorting it makes me pretty sad.
You get what you pay for. At my local co-op, the checkout clerks not only know all the names of the produce, they also know the three digit register codes. But they are paid a living wage.
dmp said:
Some of the older check out ladies have the codes memorized but if anything that makes me sad. This is not a good use of humans gray matter. When I was a kid I did more lawn mowing and shoveling snow, than bagging groceries, but these are bottom rung of the ladder starter jobs, to teach them the basics, like showing up. Showing up is important. Bagging groceries is not a career. Actually when I was a kid I worked in a machine shop two summers while in HS... Illegal actually since i was not 18YO yet, the minimum age to operate machinery. Hopefully the statute of limitation has expired by now for that infraction, mea culpa.
JR
Modern SMD resistors can be so small there is not much room to label them... I typically use 4 resistors in a tiny 8 pin package (not for high quality audio).
I wonder if SMD hurts the DIY community? Some ICs I use now are not even available in through hole versions.
JR
I wonder if SMD hurts the DIY community? Some ICs I use now are not even available in through hole versions.
JR
dmp
Well-known member
I worked at a hardware store as a teenager and got a lot out of having to think. Just having a cash register where you had to make change yourself instead of having it do it for you develops some like skills.
Why not find a kid at the right age to help sort resistors?
Andy Peters
Well-known member
JohnRoberts said:
According to the DIY folks who never stop complaining about SMD, the answer is yes.
-a
dmp said:
I worked at a hardware store as a teenager and got a lot out of having to think. Just having a cash register where you had to make change yourself instead of having it do it for you develops some like skills.
Why not find a kid at the right age to help sort resistors?
Back in the '70s I shared a rented house with my brother to help him save money to buy a house. I also gave him part time work in the evenings. During the day I often had a young niece and nephew under foot to keep entertained. Young kids loved doing some menial task when they felt like they were doing something important. That said their attention span was shorter than even mine. Biggest mistake I ever made was bringing them with me on my errands one day, that included a brief meeting with a client. It was literally impossible for them to sit still and quiet for more than 5 minutes. That meeting ended sooner than planned.
JR
Andy Peters said:
Add me to the complainers... when I tried to breadboard a small class D SMD audio amp, it was impossible (for me). I had to literally lay out a PCB to check out the map...
Now I just skip the crude breadboard step for such parts.
JR
I use this Home Depot special for matching resistors. The springs make it go real fast! Great for sorting a pile as well. . .
