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 Replies: 27 / Views: 4,174 |
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Valued Member
United States
314 Posts |
Do you think Coin Grading could ever become fully "automated?
And how far away do you think we can be from that day?
Could a combination of automation, advanced optics, huge databases of "grading standard images", and "artificial intelligence" completely automate coin grading?
I think it could happen based on technology we have today..
Imaging technology is pretty amazing. We already have amazing photo lenses that can view every detail of a coin, down to milk-spots, bag-marks, and even small die variations.
And a robotic arm could easily handle and rotate a coin at different angles while a sensor measures "luster", "reflection", and "color" for example.
"Big Data" allows you to store millions (or billions!) of "reference images" that the images of a coin could be compared against to determine it's "grade" as well as any "variations", "mint mark errors", etc.
And Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs could be built so that the software could be first "taught by experts" and could "learn" when it made grading mistakes.
The "economics" would need to justify doing this.. you would need to show that the cost of building the system would allow lower overall cost to the grading companies at better quality..
.. but I think that the technology may be pretty close to what is needed if a firm ever really wanted to try to do it..
As a real life example, this is now being done in hospitals and labs, where computer imaging and AI are analyzing things such as pathology slides, x-ray images, MRIs, etc.
And if you think about it, if we can teach a computer to drive a car, we can probably teach one to grade a coin.
I'm not forecasting that this is going to happen, and I don't want to replace the expertise I get from people I know at the LCS with "HAL from 2001", but just an interesting "mental exercise" and some food for thought..
Michael
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Rest in Peace
United States
17900 Posts |
Technical grading, which is objective, yes.
Eye appeal, which is subjective, no.
Technical grade +\- Eye Appeal = Value.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8715 Posts |
 with Mox. I personally think that an automated system may not be able to judge the eye appeal of coins as accurately as a human. Edited by SilverDollar2017
03/08/2018 6:25 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3733 Posts |
the data base would take forever to build.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1695 Posts |
PCGS tried computer grading some years ago.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
608 Posts |
I believe you'll see it in five years.
The technical grade is what is important, eye appeal is what makes you willing to pay the price.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
683 Posts |
With What Bill069 said. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
It's not going to happen in the sense of it taking over. They've been able to do it for years and years, people don't want it. Eye appeal is king, the market wants eye appeal coins not technically strong coins graded high that are ugly as sin. What has happened and will keep happening is that PCGS and very likely NGC but we know PCGS for sure will keep using it in Counterfeit Detection like the new AI program PCGS has been using. Edited by basebal21
03/08/2018 8:27 pm
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Valued Member
 United States
314 Posts |
Quote:
the data base would take forever to build. .. but in a way, that is exactly what the NCG and PCGS databases are.. a "reference file" that a good AI program could "learn from".. For example, there is AI at use for facial recognition in airports that is pretty darn amazing and can sift through millions of photos in seconds.. And there is AI being used now for reading Xrays, MRIs, and even pathology slides that are starting to surpass human abilities... And even "eye appeal" is something that 'could' be learned by reviewing lighting, color, reflections, etc..... if someone can explain it, someone can program it.. Or as suggested, you could use AI for the "technical grade", "variation identification" and "forgery identification", and even an initial "eye appeal" rating, and then use humans to just "verify/validate" the ratings, and override if they see something differently.. Again, not suggesting that this "will happen", just that it "could happen".. Michael |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Some of that is already happening with the PCGS AI program they publicly announced a few months back
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Valued Member
United States
314 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
PCGS tried computer grading some years ago They had the scanning and technical grading OK, but it couldn't judge eye appeal so people disagreed with the grades. Withthe computer doing the technical grading and a human finalizer doing final adjustment for eye appeal it would probably work. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4883 Posts |
I think AI might be developed to the point where every aspect of a coin's authenticity and grade could be covered, even those subjective aesthetic qualities lumped in under that "eye appeal" label. After all, that's what AI is all about ultimately - reproducing human mental faculties & abilities, which includes "subjective" judgments.
Of course, by the time it gets to that, we may all have become slaves to the machines, and coin grading would then be the least of our worries....
Colligo ergo sum
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
683 Posts |
So in theory, if We throw the whole "eye appeal" hullabaloo out the window then automatic AI grading could be closer than we think? I dunno, still seems a little iffy, And I think other might share the same 'If its not broken, don't fix it' view.
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Rest in Peace
10197 Posts |
Just how many more people do you want to put out of work? Machine tech has made job skills unnecessary to the point that soon machines may even replicate not just repair themselves. By then, yea, coins will be the last of our worries, well, I won't be worrying.
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Moderator
 United States
188770 Posts |
Yes, it could be fully automated. Will it?  Even though I buy based on eye appeal, we all know that technical grading seldom takes that into account. If it did, then I could buy any MS-65 clad Ike and be satisfied. This is not the case, not all MS-65 clad Ikes have the same eye appeal even though they have the same technical grade. |
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Replies: 27 / Views: 4,174 |
Posted 03/08/2018 6:24 pm
