Best Sensor for Detecting Passing Cans or Bottles Outdoors—IR, Camera, or Metal Detector?

Question title quite much covered it.


I am trying to build a sensor that lets me know when bottle or can bypasses the sensor, then sends anykind of data when correct object is detected, for example a simple audio beep.



The problems:

1) What kind of sensor to do this (infrared, pixel-model camera or metal'detector' etc.)

2) How to make it create event after detection (simple beep will do).

Basically the idea is that its a detector of bottles in outside environment.

I would appreciate links to articles/researches/buy lists/youtube whatever you can come up that could help me further.

I will be checking this thread almost daily so open a discussion with me! Im always open minded

Hi Mikael,

First, There are various sensors you can use for this application. One common would be IR sensor which are cheap and will do the work just fine. But you can also try photoelectric sensors which give you are longer range which you can experiment on.

Second, to be able to create a feedback whenever such event has occurred you would need to program it. For a start, you can use arduino.

Here are some links I found on the net:
* "IR Oject Detection with Arduino("")":https://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCoQtwIwAg&url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChlrMQsQVHg&ei=iv1PVeLyLNLHogSiy4CoBQ&usg=AFQjCNEIUmu8RRNR2tvpm8TWNhk9bbFixA&bvm=bv.92885102,d.cGU
* "Object detection Sensor("")":http://www.trossenrobotics.com/c/arduino-range-sensors-distance-object.aspx
* "Arduino Coding("")":http://playground.arduino.cc/Main/PanasonicIrSensor

Hope this helps,
Kevin

Do you want to detect a can with a metal detector?

Please explain more why you want to detect them, what is likely to make them difficult to identify, and what you want to do with them once detected. I ask this since the human eye and brain between them are very good at pattern recognition, so unless you are wanting some form of autonomous detection and manipulation system, or the environment you want to investigate is hazardous, why do you wish to do it. Is it purely for interests sake. You mention bottles and cans in the first paragraph, but only bottles further down, so is it the one, or both. As mention, metal detectors work with cans, irrespective of how they present themselves to the detector. Glass is a problem, a frame grabber is a possibility, with shape recognition software, but that is not a trivial solution. Because a bottle could be presented to the sensor in many ways, the glass has different colour, and labels may obscure large portions of the glass, simple optical sensing could be a problem. I have worked in the area of optical image recognition for some years, using active scanning (lasers) and passive (cameras), and it was rare to find trivial solutions, particularly where no control was possible on how articles were presented to the detection system,
Richard

Thank you for your reply!


Arduino seems like great thing for coding wise.

Also thanks for IR sensor tip, could you point me to cheap shops please?

Any other links that might be good to know before tinkering such thing?

Thank you for your reply!
My reasons are hobbywise. I am not atm looking for anything particular but if you think you have something important we can discuss more through email business(_at_)mikaellarin.com.

>As mention, metal detectors work with cans, irrespective of how they present themselves to the detector.

How long can such detectors range be to effectively still response to a can?


Would you recommend for 50 meter range CAN detection a IR or metal sensor?


The environment will be forest like, so the cans must be able to be found through fire&flames; (anything) pretty much

Metal detectors are very short range devices (less than 100mm for small items like a can), a field is established in a coil, and any metallic object upsetting the field will be detected. There is a lot of info on the internet about metal detectors, including how to make them.
What you want is a big ask, I doubt that in the environment you are talking about that it is achievable. As I said, imaging and shape recognition work best when you have some control of the position and presentation of the object being studied, in your case this will not apply,
cheers,
richard