Sharp eye on the money
Bank note and coin recognition techniques that might well add the golden touch to many automated tasks
Intelligent, multi-colour vision systems and advanced inductive sensing systems – far more sophisticated than are used in most industrial sensing and inspection systems – can now swiftly verify the validity of banknotes and coins in automated payment and gaming systems.
Strategies have been developed, in many cases using processors developed for the games industries, which allow a few kilobytes of instructions effectively to mine out information of significance from data sets that can run to terabytes.
And because these technologies have been developed for budget-conscious customers making vending and gaming machines, they have the potential to be applied widely across industry. For example, while this technology has been honed to distinguish genuine notes and coins from forgeries, it could also be invaluable in distinguishing good products from unacceptable, whether at the premises of a manufacturer or in ensuring quality control of bought-in components.
This subject is covered in more depth in Eureka’s July 2008 issue.
