Is it possible to create a laser-scan card grading machine?

[sportscardtheory]

Looking for a serious discussion here. What would it take to create a machine that uses harmless lasers to scan, grade and seal trading cards? It seems as though it should be possible in this day and age. It could scan the front and back surfaces, edges, front and back centering and corners better than any human eye ever could. The human element should be taken out of TPGs and a machine like this would be game-breaking. Can it be done and how? Thoughts?

[Pilot172000]

Like the automated strike zone, I am against it. There is a human element to card collecting and no card is the same regardless of what the number on the top might say. Quantifying a grade is good for convenience and establishing a market value but I no longer rely on it as much as I used to.

[Peter_Spaeth]

The machine would freak out trying to tell Mint from Gem Mint and blow itself up.

[ullmandds]

pretty sure someone on this board is/was in the process of creating such a business model.

[steve B]

Probably not with a laser, but a scanner and some software could do some of that fairly easily. Centering and size for sure, corners would be a bit more challenging. Edge quality more challenging, and picking up finer elements of the surfaces might be really tough.

As much as we complain about them, a bit of training maybe a week or so can get a motivated 20 something about 90% of the way there. And they're almost always going to be faster than the machine. Business wise that's an ok tradeoff compared to development costs plus a slower machine.

Changing the overall business model away from rushing things would be a much bigger improvement.

Steve B

[Peter_Spaeth]

John Henry, he drove fifteen feet
The steam drill only made nine

[Cozumeleno]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

pretty sure someone on this board is/was in the process of creating such a business model.

Yep - I remember seeing that mentioned before.