OH NOES! It's been a month! That sucks.
I definitely like getting stuff out every week. Haven't had a lot recetnly.
I'm continuing the Magic the Gathering bit.
Most of what I've been doing on the site (MTGDiscovery.com) has been around optimizing it for information I want, and how I use it.
Nothing exciting there.
I will hopefully blog a bit about using a Raspberry pi to build an automated card sorting device.
I looked online for one. And nowhere seems to sell one. There's a place that rents to a store for too much a month.
I'm a geek, a nerd, and figure my 3D printers can help me some. I'll build my own!
I've got all the pieces to prove out the software elements and their interactions with the physical devices... mostly gears and a pump.
Once that all works, I'll definitely dig into the physical elements a bit more. Need ways to move on the x, y, and z axis. I have some ideas and sketches... but not sold on them yet. I'd REALLY like to 3D print the entire structure... which will require lots of CAD time, and getting my printer set back up. Turning my store room into my office made less space... so it sits unused.
I've been thinking of using a track, and hook onto it to move around... but if I can do the 3D printing... definitely will match closer to what I have in mind... See; this is why I write. I think things through while writing about them. Very focused. Not the wide sweeping thinking I can do while just pondering about it, but when I'm writing about something, in this case, the tracks that move about the axis... my brain quickly itterates on that specific thing. No deviation, no integrations. What's the best I can think of to do what I want, how I want? ... And I have a better solution. I'll print tracks, and a wheel to mount on the motor. OK, more than one of each.
Right - I'll constantly be itterating on the movement mechanisms.
I won't be sorting fully random cards. Just sets that haven't been sorted. I want to get it to sort out sets, but that'll require a little custom image recognition work. I can do cards in a set by out of the box OCR.
I want to be able to use the set symbol. Which means I've gotta do some image work myself. Not outrageous to do. I have ideas (probably bad ones). I think it'll be good to get the physical stuff worked out before I bother trying to step up the sorting.
Get cards in a single set sorting, THEN I can move onto sorting into sets.
That hardware is being shipped. I'll have lots of fun fucking up the circuitry.
In case anyone's wondering; if I get this working, my plan is to put it all online. There's no way I'm gonna try and sell these. Pffft, WAY too much effort.
But I like my work being available to others. :)