First Impressions of Our Latest Optical Supporter Technology
I had my first experience with the new Cimbria SEA IQ+ optical sorter last May. It was much anticipated as we had heard quite a bit about it, and the big unveiling for the territory manager group at Nexeed HQ was attended by a colleague from Cimbria in Italy. We left that meeting excited about the product – it is a meaningful step forward in terms of both separation performance and ease of use for the user.
User-“Friendlier”
Our operator interface for setting up sorter separations was easy and intuitive to work with, but we’ve always wondered when we’d reach the point where we can drop a good one , drop a bad one, tell the machine which is which, and then let it run. We pretty much have that now with Brain AI (artificial intelligence). Brain was developed at Cimbria SEA for the model IQ plus. Accuracy, simplicity, and a broader range of separations were my take-aways from that demonstration. A sample of good seed and a sample of foreign material (targets) is all you need. Let the Brain know what is good and what you want it to remove. We call this Good-Bad-Go. The Brain does the recipe based on that input. Then it uses machine learning to refine the process while it runs. Wow!
More Accurate:
The IQ+ is a little more precise on the separation. This is the result of better imaging technology. You can see the difference on the machine HMI – the pictures of the grain are shaper, more clear, so it’s not hard to imagine how that leads to a better result out the bottom of the sorter. The reject sample contains less good product. How did Cimbira do that? Trade secret!
From seeing that first demo, visiting Nexeed Headquarters Color Sorter lab and working with our two Color Sorter Technicians, I started with a good base knowledge.
Support:
After returning home, I wanted to try it myself, so I turned on my virtual sorter on my laptop. As most of us have experienced, it takes a little bit of work to recall the steps, even with good software. Learning by doing is great for navigating functions, learning do’s and don'ts and overall familiarization. Part way through, I needed some reminders about where to go. In real time Robert, on of our Optical Sorter tech’s from head office was able to log on to my system just like he can any Cimbria sorter (provided permission) and assist. He saw what I had done wrong, explained it technically and in layman terms. It was a minor misstep, and I now have a good handle on how to run Brain.
Learning from an expert who is good at explaining the functions and the Why’s is a massive benefit. Combining practical experience with expert guidance is one of the most effective ways to gain a deeper understanding.
Overall, we’re excited. The IQ+ model is a leader in operator ease of use and separation accuracy. Now that we’ve had a few months to try the technology out, we have even found some new separations which we couldn’t do before. We are ready to show this to anyone who is ready to take on the latest sorting tech. If you want to learn more, contact any of us at Nexeed.
