Instabrick: Part identification system

Stefano_Berti

I'm Stefano Berti, one of the creators of Piqabrick, a part identification system already seen on a Brickset's article here.

Thanks to computer vision technology, Piqabrick quickly identifies any Lego brick, providing you the ID code and the color code. It simplifies and speeds up the identificaion of bricks and minifigs and helps you create and manage your own inventory, and more.

If you have any questions, suggestions, this is the right place to let us know.

In case you haven't seen Piqabrick in action yet, here is a review by one of our beta-tester Simon from Germany
https://youtu.be/DZaSa4Zezsw

And this is the link to our live campaign on Kickstarter
http://kck.st/2PgO51X

CCC

What happens if you put non-lego parts in the device? These are often what causes confusion and take time when sorting bulk lots. So for example, a playmobil part or a brickwarriors part or a MB part. What about if you put a megablok or other clone part that does exist in lego form, can it tell the difference between for example a MB 2x4 and a LEGO 2x4 brick?

daewoo

People are campaigning for this endlessly all over the place.  Unless it's a high-volume thing, I see no use for it.  In other words, if I can't sort 5 pounds of bulk, what's the use?

datsunrobbie

@Stefano_Berti the link you provided to the project fails, here's one that works:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/piqabrick/piqabrick

I have supported and really hope this makes it to production. I have hundreds of minifigures that need identifying, and this will be a great improvement over manually searching.

@daewoo If you're looking to dump five pounds of bulk Lego in and have it sorted, how would you design the output? Each piece would have to get scanned separately, maybe on a conveyor belt, and then either moved manually to a bin or automatically routed to a specified bin. Who's got room for 2350 bins x 52 colors for truly automated sorting?

CCC

daewoo said:

People are campaigning for this endlessly all over the place.  Unless it's a high-volume thing, I see no use for it.  In other words, if I can't sort 5 pounds of bulk, what's the use?

This is far from high volume. It is for identifying parts that you cannot identify. If a BL seller cannot identify 90% of a random bulk lot just by picking up each part, they are not really very good at what they do. If they cannot identify another 9% with a quick search of the BL catalogue, then again, they are not a very good BL seller. I imagine this is useful for the 1% of parts that cannot be found quickly using knowledge or catalogue.

This will not speed up the sorting, inventorying and storage of common parts. It will only speed up the identification of those parts you cannot recognize. The seller / collector will still need to sort, inventory and store them by hand.

It might be useful for heads that have been detached from their minifigures, where there are now so many they are becoming hard to tell apart. I find that unknown torsos can normally be found within a minute or so, it is the heads I struggle with.

Stefano_Berti

CCC said:

What happens if you put non-lego parts in the device? These are often what causes confusion and take time when sorting bulk lots. So for example, a playmobil part or a brickwarriors part or a MB part. What about if you put a megablok or other clone part that does exist in lego form, can it tell the difference between for example a MB 2x4 and a LEGO 2x4 brick?

Piqabrick will detect fake Lego in case they are clearly non-Lego. We discussed two days ago at Bricks in Florence Festival with AFOLS about this topic and we decided to add a fake revealer functionality to our roadmap (in that case we will tailor our alghorithm for that).

Stefano_Berti

daewoo said:

People are campaigning for this endlessly all over the place.  Unless it's a high-volume thing, I see no use for it.  In other words, if I can't sort 5 pounds of bulk, what's the use?

@daewoo as you probably know the two most common questions in groups and communities discussing LEGO are "can you help me by identifying this part?" and "do you know which set this minifig/part belongs to?"

We have an answer to these questions.

CCC

Stefano_Berti said:

CCC said:

What happens if you put non-lego parts in the device? These are often what causes confusion and take time when sorting bulk lots. So for example, a playmobil part or a brickwarriors part or a MB part. What about if you put a megablok or other clone part that does exist in lego form, can it tell the difference between for example a MB 2x4 and a LEGO 2x4 brick?

Piqabrick will detect fake Lego in case they are clearly non-Lego. We discussed two days ago at Bricks in Florence Festival with AFOLS about this topic and we decided to add a fake revealer functionality to our roadmap (in that case we will tailor our alghorithm for that).

What does that "clearly non-LEGO" mean? So for example if you put a 2x4 megablok in, does it detect it as LEGO? They are clearly non-lego as the logo is different, but the brick shape is the same. Or do you mean if the part does not exist in the database, then it assumes it is non-LEGO.

What happens if a genuine LEGO part is not in your database? Does it say it is non-LEGO?

DB361

I think putting 2x4 bricks in the system, whether Lego or Mega Bloks, is kind of defeating the point of it, isn’t it? For me, if it can tell me within a second or two exactly what a specific torso print is, what minifigures it’s from and what set it’s in, that can only be a good thing? I think there’s too much trying to pretend Piqabrick is something it isn’t. Yes, it would be amazing to have something that sorts and inventorises 5lbs of loose parts in a few minutes, but it simply doesn’t exist.

CCC

That was a simple example of comparing fake with genuine.

So what happens if someone puts in a fake CMF torso, for example? Would the device be able to identify this as a fake? Or all the fake Deadpool heads, where the eye print is very slightly different to the genuine one.

benbacardi

Stefano_Berti said:

daewoo said:

People are campaigning for this endlessly all over the place.  Unless it's a high-volume thing, I see no use for it.  In other words, if I can't sort 5 pounds of bulk, what's the use?

@daewoo as you probably know the two most common questions in groups and communities discussing LEGO are "can you help me by identifying this part?" and "do you know which set this minifig/part belongs to?"

We have an answer to these questions.

You do, but I think most people posting those questions aren't the sort of people to do it often enough to want to spend money on a machine that can do it for them. They're the kind of people who have one or two parts they need to find out about, so they post them on a forum which does the leg work for them.

If you have enough parts you need to identify, then you probably already know the majority of them or are good enough at Bricklink/etc to figure the few out.

colay

Wow, for some people who don't like the idea and have a bunch of negativity around it, clearly don't want it, so why argue what it can and can't do?

Those that see no market or use for it why bother posting?! :)

@Stefano_Berti For me, I like the idea. I have fair knowledge of things, but not all, especially older items and MFs, so I think it's great to help point me in the right direction and give me the instant feedback. TBH, it's a little price prohibitive for me ATM, but who knows for the future. I hope it is a success for you

Stefano_Berti

CCC said:

Stefano_Berti said:

CCC said:

What happens if you put non-lego parts in the device? These are often what causes confusion and take time when sorting bulk lots. So for example, a playmobil part or a brickwarriors part or a MB part. What about if you put a megablok or other clone part that does exist in lego form, can it tell the difference between for example a MB 2x4 and a LEGO 2x4 brick?

Piqabrick will detect fake Lego in case they are clearly non-Lego. We discussed two days ago at Bricks in Florence Festival with AFOLS about this topic and we decided to add a fake revealer functionality to our roadmap (in that case we will tailor our alghorithm for that).

What does that "clearly non-LEGO" mean? So for example if you put a 2x4 megablok in, does it detect it as LEGO? They are clearly non-lego as the logo is different, but the brick shape is the same. Or do you mean if the part does not exist in the database, then it assumes it is non-LEGO.

What happens if a genuine LEGO part is not in your database? Does it say it is non-LEGO?

@CCC a 2x4 megablock is a clearly non-LEGO, as you told the logo is not the same.
If a part is not in our database you have a no match. 

CCC

Stefano_Berti said:

CCC said:

Stefano_Berti said:

CCC said:

What happens if you put non-lego parts in the device? These are often what causes confusion and take time when sorting bulk lots. So for example, a playmobil part or a brickwarriors part or a MB part. What about if you put a megablok or other clone part that does exist in lego form, can it tell the difference between for example a MB 2x4 and a LEGO 2x4 brick?

Piqabrick will detect fake Lego in case they are clearly non-Lego. We discussed two days ago at Bricks in Florence Festival with AFOLS about this topic and we decided to add a fake revealer functionality to our roadmap (in that case we will tailor our alghorithm for that).

What does that "clearly non-LEGO" mean? So for example if you put a 2x4 megablok in, does it detect it as LEGO? They are clearly non-lego as the logo is different, but the brick shape is the same. Or do you mean if the part does not exist in the database, then it assumes it is non-LEGO.

What happens if a genuine LEGO part is not in your database? Does it say it is non-LEGO?

@CCC a 2x4 megablock is a clearly non-LEGO, as you told the logo is not the same.

So does your device flag this as non-LEGO, or do you expect the user to flag it as non-LEGO? You said that piqabrick will detect fake lego if they are clearly non-lego. Does piqabrick work to the level of detail of spotting the LEGO logo on otherwise identical parts?

For things like fake CMF torsos, the logo is perpendicular to the print. There are loads of fakes around these days which would probably pass as genuine if you just match the print. However, looking at the neck for the logo is important. Does the user still have to do that for each piece? You have said it will detect fakes, will it in this case?

daewoo

datsunrobbie said:

@daewoo If you're looking to dump five pounds of bulk Lego in and have it sorted, how would you design the output? Each piece would have to get scanned separately, maybe on a conveyor belt, and then either moved manually to a bin or automatically routed to a specified bin. Who's got room for 2350 bins x 52 colors for truly automated sorting?

That's my point.  This device does not speed up or even really help the bulk sorting process.  I couldn't care less that it IDs parts as I can do that myself with existing resources.  So there is zero value for me.  I bother posting because I am tired of the endless campaigning that's going on.  If you want my support (money), then I have to see value for ME, which I quite clearly do not see here.

Brickfan50

I think it is a very cool project and will support. I only buy new Lego sets so fake Lego is not an issue for me. 
To be able to identify a part quickly - not only minifig torsos - is a real timesaver when you have a Bricklink store. 

datsunrobbie

PiqaBrick has cleared their Kickstarter finance goal. I'm really looking forward to receiving the product and getting started on sorting minifigures.

Congratulations to the PiqaBrick team!

Stefano_Berti

Hi everyone!

Piqabrick is now 120% funded by 460+ enthusiastic supporters. But there are cool stretch goals left to reach!

Hurry up! There are just 30 hours left to get behind Piqabrick and help bringing it to life taking advantage of a 16% off on the retail price!

omnium

@Stefano_Berti - it looks like it run in the browser only. Does that mean it will work on any platform, eg. a Linux desktop?

How about an mobile device, like an Android phone or tablet?

Stefano_Berti

omnium said:

@Stefano_Berti - it looks like it run in the browser only. Does that mean it will work on any platform, eg. a Linux desktop?

How about an mobile device, like an Android phone or tablet?

@omnium yes, it will work also on Linux desktop. At the moment it's not planned to plug the Box into a smartphone device.

Stefano_Berti

Piqabrick has landed on Indiegogo.
Now you can pre-order it with a special discount on the retail price.
https://igg.me/at/piqabrick/x/22722823#/

benbacardi

Are you just bouncing round the various crowd funding sites 🤨

Brickfan50

Received no good news from Piqabrick yesterday, you can read their full statement here.

I'm not really satisfied by their communication to the backers. Here is a summary of the problems they claim to have, intermingled with my own comments:

• the auto-focus camera had to be replaced by a fixed-focus camera for reasons not clearly explained
  
• this causes some other hardware adjustments too, but also the whole algorithm to recognize parts has to be rewritten (this is not communicated by Piqabrick but is obvious when you know how the software was intended to work with an auto-focus camera)
  
• essential parts of the Piqabrick box are imported from China. Due to the Corona virus, Piqabrick claims they have no supply for these parts

I have backed this project as soon as it came around and now I'm very worried about the future of this project. Their Feb. 5th statement sounds alarming to me and I think they need to provide more details about the current problems than they have done in their announcement.

I hope that Stefano Berti will read this. I welcome his reply :-)

Huw

I do hope it's going to come to fruition, particularly as I plugged it heavily and met the team in FLorence, but it does seem like they already behind the curve given that this system, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04JkdHEX3Yk, recoginses and sorts parts without the need for a new database of images. It just uses BrickLink's from what I can tell.

Brickfan50

@Huw: thanks!

datsunrobbie

I'm also a backer and got the email update, which I took much more positively than Brickfan50. Some beta testers had problems with the autofocus camera, so they switched to a fixed focus camera to resolve the problem. Maybe their Piqapart system uses the fixed focus camera - I don't know, but that would make switching part identification algorithms simpler than a full rewrite. According to an update from their Facebook page, they had an agreement in place to source 600 cameras from ELP before losing contact with them a few days ago, which to me indicates they had selected a fixed-focus camera and done testing sufficient to warrant ordering enough to cover initial production. THEN they lost contact with the supplier and posted the update to let backers know about it.

As far as importing parts from China, I'll quote the email I received:

"We are facing now a new issue after we found the new camera and reached an agreement with our camera supplier, ELP. A few days ago the ELP suddenly interrupted the communication and their website (www.elpcctv.com) went down. is based in China, as basically any camera or electronics producer/supplier. It is likely the communication breakdown is related to the China blockade situation due to recent Coronavirus outbreak."

The Coronavirus is causing all sorts of disruptions in China, so I think it is not unreasonable to assume it could be the cause of communication problems with the supplier.

I still expect the project will be completed successfully, although it might not make the end of February ship date. 

datsunrobbie

I got an email from Instabrick (new name for Piqabrick) this morning that says they are getting ready to start shipping! Really looking forward to getting this thing and getting some minifigures sorted out.

Bobflip

Huw said:

I do hope it's going to come to fruition, particularly as I plugged it heavily and met the team in FLorence, but it does seem like they already behind the curve given that this system, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04JkdHEX3Yk, recoginses and sorts parts without the need for a new database of images. It just uses BrickLink's from what I can tell.

I wasn't too sold on the way this one worked, but the auto sorter in that video looks amazing! Unfortunately saw him saw in a Twitter comment that he doesn't plan to release it. Was already working out what I already have and where I could store the machine... would save so much time!

Fizyx

Huw said:

I do hope it's going to come to fruition, particularly as I plugged it heavily and met the team in FLorence, but it does seem like they already behind the curve given that this system, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04JkdHEX3Yk, recoginses and sorts parts without the need for a new database of images. It just uses BrickLink's from what I can tell.

I think the biggest difference I can see is that the one in the video depends on there being a 3d model available for the system to use for its machine learning, and it's likely pulling that from Bricklink or other sites that may have them available.  I believe the actual methods that Piqabrick are using are similar, but part of the service they are offering also involves the creation and upkeep of a continually growing archive of images that also be used to expand the known part range of Piqabrick, so as new parts or more rare parts are introduced, they will update and maintain that database so Piqabrick is able to continuously improve it's identification capabilities, even without a 3d model or external image database being available.   It's also not clear to me that the machine in the video would also identify things like two parts with different prints on them as being different parts, which Piqabrick definitely is aiming to do.

I feel like the idea behind Piqabrick is basically an iterative step in the identification process that the machine in the video is using, taking it to the next step by maintaining an even large library for the machine learning algorithms to draw on, and expanding identification to printed/stickers parts.  But that's drawn from just a short dive into the two systems, not a really in-depth look, so I could be totally off base as well :)

Brickfan50

My Piqabrick has been shipped. Anxiously waiting for it to arrive & to put it to the test.

mike_in_be

Mine arrived today. Unfortunately it's straight into emailing support since attempting to register with the supplied QR code gives "Ooops something went wrong, the QR code is invalid or is already activated. Please try again."

Let's see how fast support is.

Mike

mike_in_be

Support (Stefano) replied within 25 minutes. Enough information to point me at a problem with camera permissions in my browser (Chrome). I tried using Edge and it's working fine, identifying bricks. So fast, helpful support and a working product. (Now all I've got to do is find out what I've misconfigured in Chrome.)

Mike

datsunrobbie

My Instabrick (formerly Piqabrick) scanner arrived on Saturday. I had to swap out the USB cable, and their email support was quick to reply and said "We have been having issues with the USB cables that shipped with the units." Once the cable issue was resolved setup was quick and easy in both Chrome and Edge. Several minifigures I scanned were found by the system, some were not, but I expect that to improve as the database is updated.

Brickfan50

Received my Instabrick two days ago. Had to wait more than 2 months after I received the shipment notification mail...

So far I have to say that I'm not overly impressed. I scanned about 40 random bricks that were laying around on my desk and building table. Only 5 of them were recognised: 1 in the right colour, 4 other elements were in the list of possible matches but not necessarily in the right colour or as a first choice.

It's too early on to pass definitive judgment. I'll keep you updated!

Brickfan50

@HuwMillington (or one of the other admins)

Please change the name of this subject to "Instabrick (formerly Piqabrick): Part identification system"