Brass Recognition App?

[otisrush]

As I was hunched over at the waist today....looking for those pesky .380 cases.....it hit me:

There should be a phone app (that uses the camera) and beeps/highlights when it sees cases that you tell the app you want to find. On the one hand (even though I'm kind of a techie) I don't think it would be that hard to do. But on the other hand I wouldn't know how to do it.

One of the challenges would be calibrating for how high off the ground the phone is. But that wouldn't be that hard to do. Put a couple of known cases on the ground, hold the phone where you want to hold it, and push a Calibrate button.

I can see it in my mind's eye now: From a menu pick the cases you want: e.g. 9mm, .380, .38 Spcl. Use the phone/app to scan the ground...and it beeps when it sees a case....like a metal detector.

OR

 

[tightgroup tiger]

That would be nice, wouldn't it.
I think it would be impossible with the kind of lenses that's in a cell phone. Most every vision system I've used uses optical lenses, fixed focal points at very close distances, and need to be held perfectly still.
I find my 380s while resizing brass, and they contribute to my scrap brass bucket.

 

[jmorris]

Suck it all up and throw it in a sorter then get the stuff you want out of the corresponding bin.

 

[Doublehelix]

I want one of @jmorris brass sorters, *AND* a brass magnet for pickup up range brass.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Why not an app that allows your phone lens to follow the brass to the ground and plot it on a grid for you so you know where every piece lands?

 

[kmw1954]

I just use one of those wire rollers and pick up everything. Then sort it. No bending over, no crawling in the dirt.

 

[badkarmamib]

I just use one of those wire rollers and pick up everything. Then sort it. No bending over, no crawling in the dirt.

Which one do you use? There are a few different kinds out there, and they all seem to have pretty mixed reviews. I was just (2 minutes ago) looking at them, and can't decide which one would be best.

 

[higgite]

There should be a phone app (that uses the camera) and beeps/highlights when it sees cases that you tell the app you want to find.
OR

The Good Lord beat you to it. Eyeballs. No batteries required. But, if you insist on not bending over, might as well go for the gold... a 4’ to 6’ adjustable length, upside down periscope and an extended grabber. You'll be the envy of Twilight Acres.

 

[Texas10mm]

Which one do you use? There are a few different kinds out there, and they all seem to have pretty mixed reviews. I was just (2 minutes ago) looking at them, and can't decide which one would be best.

https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/gardening-tools/gardening-tools/7464217

I've got two of them and they work like a champ.

 

[Dudedog]

If the cases were laying flat on the ground it might be do-able but anything other than flat I can see causing a problem.
Mark 1 eyeball works well. Once you practice looking for MAK brass in with all the otherr 9mms .380 gets easy to spot!
What we need is a brass fetching robot, has 3 or 4 buckets, just goes around fetching brass while you shoot and sorting it as well.

A friend of mine says his wife picks up and sorts brass but that sounds like an awful expensive way to get it done to me

 

[kmw1954]

Which one do you use? There are a few different kinds out there, and they all seem to have pretty mixed reviews. I was just (2 minutes ago) looking at them, and can't decide which one would be best.

Had to go look, I have the Caldweld one and it works nicely.

 

[dartor]

Avoid the Ammo Up, I also use the nut wizard from Ace hardware. Decided to try the AU on a whim. Ten seconds of use told me I wasted $60.00

 

[Highland Lofts]

It seams it would pick up stones or anything else the size of brass.

 

[Varminterror]

I’m the worst at spotting brass, as evidenced at every match I ever shoot when we police brass (10 times a day, a couple weekends per month). But from a technology point of view, the very basis of the idea is flawed - most of the time when you can’t find brass, it’s because it is obscured. If it’s obscured from your eye, it’ll be obscured from the camera.

If you’re simply focused on an app which finds a certain size of brass in a pile of brass, eh, I don’t shoot often enough at lazy ranges which have piled brass, and when I do, I sweep away the brass so I can more easily identify mine, use a brass catcher, or drop a tarp in my ejection zone.

 

[FROGO207]

OP if you ever get a proven model on the market I will be the first in line to buy one

 

[higgite]

What we need is a brass fetching robot.......

Now there’s a marketing niche for Roomba. Modify’em and sell’em by caliber.
“Can I help you, sir?”
“Yes, I’d like a Roomba for 9mm, please.”
“Yessir! Would that be Luger, Mak or Kurz?”

 

[jmorris]

Which one do you use? There are a few different kinds out there, and they all seem to have pretty mixed reviews. I was just (2 minutes ago) looking at them, and can't decide which one would be best.

I have a bag-a-nut, nut wizard and a brass vacuum I made out of a leaf blower/vacuum. There are pros and cons in each, just like most everything else in life.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/brass-vacuum.849592/#post-11091852

 

[Jessesky]

I like the innovation! But I spend enough time around casings to tell at a glance a .32 from a .380 from a 9mm. Now 38 and 357 I cannot but I doubt an app could distinguish such a small difference.

Also as a reloader I usually make sure I pick my brass up after I shoot the magazine

 

[Havok7416]

I'm something like a human vacuum cleaner and your dreamed app built in. Any brass in my general vicinity gets gobbled up (neighboring brass only with permission from the neighbors). I can tell exactly what I'm looking at there and then, but to save time I just pack it all up and take it home. It gives me something to do in front of the TV - where they are sorted semi-blindly by feel. Put enough of them in your hands and you will be able to also.