4 ms·

> How difficult of a challenge is it to build sorting machines, anyway? Machine vision and learning, conveyor belts, lots of delta arms - seems doable to me.

by cr0sh 8y ago

> How difficult of a challenge is it to build sorting machines, anyway? Machine vision and learning, conveyor belts, lots of delta arms - seems doable to me. Heck - maybe we need something akin to the whole "smart car" thing in China - let kids and others come up with trash sorting machines, compete in challenges (FIRST/FRC style?), etc? Hmm - business idea: Educational STEM startup focused on the above (aka - FIRST/FRC robot contests for trash sorting); all entries must be open source/open hardware; same company (more or less) could use innovations from the open source entries to develop full-scale machines and systems for implementation in actual industry?

mtw 8y ago
If it's already contaminated, with food waste or other, there's no amount of machine vision or labour that will get you rid of the contamination so you can send it to China.
- clort 8y ago
  maybe you use the machine vision and sorting machine to reject that item then, and still send all the uncontaminated items to China?
  - cududa 8y ago
    Years ago I dabbled in the agtech space and reasonably affordable spectrometers were available. Perhaps that could help pick out contaminated items?
  - burfog 8y ago
    I'd rather it not go to China. It is better that we manufacture our own plastic trinkets right here in the USA.
speedplane 8y ago
I recently did a tour of a NYC Waste Management center in Queens. The installation was huge, roughly the same footprint as the entire wallstreet section of downtown Manhattan. Further, the technology at every step of the waste management process was very impressive. Skimmers on top to separate oily waste, under-water conveyors to separate heavier materials, huge pools of bacteria that can "digest" organic matter turn it into methane that can then heat homes or create power, centrifuges that can do more precise separation. They showed the before and after of the waste from the process. It starts as absolutely disgusting murky green water with dirty wet-naps in it, to crystal clear H20 (although I still wouldn't drink it). The work involves nearly every engineering discipline from bio-chemists to electrical engineers to underwater mechanics to software developers. It's unfortunate it's a public job and the pay isn't great, it's interesting work. But sadly, given all that, every time it rains the rainwater floods the system with more liquid than it can handle and it all gets dumped into the hudson river.

by cr0sh 8y ago

mtw 8y ago

If it's already contaminated, with food waste or other, there's no amount of machine vision or labour that will get you rid of the contamination so you can send it to China.

clort 8y ago
maybe you use the machine vision and sorting machine to reject that item then, and still send all the uncontaminated items to China?
- cududa 8y ago
  Years ago I dabbled in the agtech space and reasonably affordable spectrometers were available. Perhaps that could help pick out contaminated items?
- burfog 8y ago
  I'd rather it not go to China. It is better that we manufacture our own plastic trinkets right here in the USA.

speedplane 8y ago

I recently did a tour of a NYC Waste Management center in Queens. The installation was huge, roughly the same footprint as the entire wallstreet section of downtown Manhattan. Further, the technology at every step of the waste management process was very impressive. Skimmers on top to separate oily waste, under-water conveyors to separate heavier materials, huge pools of bacteria that can "digest" organic matter turn it into methane that can then heat homes or create power, centrifuges that can do more precise separation. They showed the before and after of the waste from the process. It starts as absolutely disgusting murky green water with dirty wet-naps in it, to crystal clear H20 (although I still wouldn't drink it). The work involves nearly every engineering discipline from bio-chemists to electrical engineers to underwater mechanics to software developers. It's unfortunate it's a public job and the pay isn't great, it's interesting work. But sadly, given all that, every time it rains the rainwater floods the system with more liquid than it can handle and it all gets dumped into the hudson river.