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This is an odd approach. Very Rube Goldberg. I suppose they might have just wanted to whip something up using the equipment they had at hand, but you could ea

This is an odd approach. Very Rube Goldberg. I suppose they might have just wanted to whip something up using the equipment they had at hand, but you could easily solve the same problem with and off-the shelf device: https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Prime-4-Channel-Thermometer-Thermocouple-200-1372%C2%B0C/dp/B0142HFA06/ https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Prime-4-Channel-Thermometer-T... Which isn't any more expensive than the thermometer they used: https://www.amazon.com/Digital-K-type-Thermocouple-Thermometer-DM6801A/dp/B004YRA4NI https://www.amazon.com/Digital-K-type-Thermocouple-Thermomet...

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sacrosancty 4y ago
Except it will be a complete dead end if they want to read some other instrument. We have no universal electronic interface for this sort of thing but human-like vision is a universal interface.
- joezydeco 4y ago
  LabView comes pretty close, and has been around for decades.
  - sacrosancty 4y ago
    [dead]
not_the_fda 4y ago
Even with all the power of AI you still need good judgement. Hours of work using AI, video processing, and cloud services, and the problem could have been solved with a off the shelf device that costs the same as the thermometer they were using. Thousands of dollars solution vs tens of dollars solution.
thrashh 4y ago
The easier solution would be “take video for 2 hours, write down 6 points, fit curve.” It sounds like OP was having fun. But I wouldn’t have bought a thermometer to throw away as an alternative.
addisonl 4y ago
Using what they had on hand vs buying a 2nd thermometer for a one time use. Hacker News of all places should embrace option 1.
- tablespoon 4y ago
  > Using what they had on hand vs buying a 2nd thermometer for a one time use. Hacker News of all places should embrace option 1. Why? Time is valuable too. If I had to do the same thing and was more interested in getting the job done than building a Rube Goldberg machine, I'd totally buy a second thermometer that's suited to what I'm trying to do.
  - addisonl 4y ago
    > Time is valuable too Of course, which is why it’s important to spend it learning new things. You haven’t factored shipping into your time equation—get it done today (and learn something new) or wait 2 days for Amazon to deliver something I might only need once…I know what I’d do.

deleted 4y ago

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sacrosancty 4y ago

Except it will be a complete dead end if they want to read some other instrument. We have no universal electronic interface for this sort of thing but human-like vision is a universal interface.

joezydeco 4y ago
LabView comes pretty close, and has been around for decades.
- sacrosancty 4y ago
  [dead]

not_the_fda 4y ago

Even with all the power of AI you still need good judgement. Hours of work using AI, video processing, and cloud services, and the problem could have been solved with a off the shelf device that costs the same as the thermometer they were using. Thousands of dollars solution vs tens of dollars solution.

thrashh 4y ago

The easier solution would be “take video for 2 hours, write down 6 points, fit curve.” It sounds like OP was having fun. But I wouldn’t have bought a thermometer to throw away as an alternative.

addisonl 4y ago

Using what they had on hand vs buying a 2nd thermometer for a one time use. Hacker News of all places should embrace option 1.

tablespoon 4y ago
> Using what they had on hand vs buying a 2nd thermometer for a one time use. Hacker News of all places should embrace option 1. Why? Time is valuable too. If I had to do the same thing and was more interested in getting the job done than building a Rube Goldberg machine, I'd totally buy a second thermometer that's suited to what I'm trying to do.
- addisonl 4y ago
  > Time is valuable too Of course, which is why it’s important to spend it learning new things. You haven’t factored shipping into your time equation—get it done today (and learn something new) or wait 2 days for Amazon to deliver something I might only need once…I know what I’d do.