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A comment on A looming copper crunch and why recycling can’t fix it. Parent comment

Re:A looming copper crunch and why recycling can’t fix it by stevenjgarner on Sunday July 31, 2022 @04:13PM (#32298379)
The copper penny hoarders are beating you to it [0]. I met a "retired" guy who is driving around the US buying boxes of pennies from banks sorting them into copper or not. He sells the sorted copper pennies to penny hoarders [1] and uses the non-copper pennies to spend at the Walmart NCR cash registers (they have to love him). He said he does not get rich but makes enough to get by.

We went out for a meal and discussed the feasibility of sorting the pennies by date using ML. The real gold mine would be that an AI approach might potentially identify numismatic grade pennies and really pay for itself.

[0] https://www.wikihow.com/Hoard-Copper-Pennies

[1] https://moneyning.com/make-money/how-to-cash-in-your-pennies...

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Re:A looming copper crunch and why recycling can’t fix it by MichaelCollins on Sunday July 31, 2022 @04:27PM (#32298514)
Codyslab sorting copper pennies using magnetic inductance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gM9mOk6eb8

Seems very simple and low tech.

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Re:A looming copper crunch and why recycling can’t fix it by shrubble on Sunday July 31, 2022 @04:20PM (#32298454)
There are slight differences in weight between the 1982 and later, and the copper containing pennies.

You don't need to use ML, you need a comparator of the kind found in 1000s of vending machines.

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Re:A looming copper crunch and why recycling can’t fix it by OJFord on Sunday July 31, 2022 @04:33PM (#32298564)
ML's just a comparator where the designer doesn't (necessarily) understand the logic, right?
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Re:A looming copper crunch and why recycling can’t fix it by loa_in_ on Sunday July 31, 2022 @04:56PM (#32298760)
If you have an universal constructor, yes, it's going to be a problem that solves itself.

In practice you need a high fidelity weight sensor and a handful of transistors.

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Re:A looming copper crunch and why recycling can’t fix it by dehrmann on Sunday July 31, 2022 @04:41PM (#32298637)
What if we ran that ML on the etherium network?
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Re:A looming copper crunch and why recycling can’t fix it by wil421 on Sunday July 31, 2022 @07:36PM (#32299961)
My coworker is a sport shooter like you would see in the Olympics. His club noticed differences in grouping patterns between different bullet manufacturers. He built a sorting machine using python, 3d printed parts, and image recognition. It sounds similar to penny sorting by date and weight. He sorted by looking at the stamp on the shell and verified they weighed a certain amount.
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