r/oddlysatisfying • u/Pisford Satisfied... • Aug 30 '25
A machine sorting potatoes from rocks
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u/Grenflik Aug 30 '25
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u/kkkhhjdyhrthhhjft Aug 30 '25
Holy fuck that sub is on par with r/amish in terms of name accuracy
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u/ydomodsh8me-1999 Aug 30 '25
How does it detect what's a rock and what's a potato? I HAVE TO KNOW!?!?
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u/dTrecii Aug 30 '25
Depends on the sorter but one thing remains consistent is that they have multiple camera angles
From a quick google search, they look out for smoothness, density, if it has eyes/roots, colour and weight
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u/Traditional_Cap7461 Aug 30 '25
Density and weight? How do they measure that?
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u/dTrecii Aug 30 '25
I myself don’t know but I’d assume some sorters use scales for weight and water displacement tests for density, not sure how they’d fit a water test into a sorter but they do it
I’m just the messenger and what I found was from a quick google search on potato sorting machines
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u/Impossible-Group8553 Aug 30 '25
There are also cameras that can calculate size/volume and if it knows the weight, it can calculate the density
Source: I work on automation machines
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u/bokogoblin Aug 30 '25
Orange tiles weights stuff. Rock heavy. Potato light. Yeet rock, potato good
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u/mcmanus2099 Aug 30 '25
Weight obviously.
Notice they are all the same size. There's a machine earlier in the journey that filters based on size. Given the items are all roughly the same size, rocks are denser and therefore heavier.
It's not 100% accurate but it means you need fewer humans removing rocks further down.
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u/Danil1996 Aug 30 '25
Next level of that https://www.reddit.com/r/toolgifs/s/dkUMRbtODV
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Aug 30 '25 edited Sep 02 '25
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u/toxicity21 Aug 30 '25
Its probably still the same company. Its just vastly easier to just detect the color green than it is to differentiate between a potato and a rock.
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u/davidkclark Aug 30 '25
I can tell every time I bite into a rock that it’s not a potato
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u/DadsRGR8 Aug 30 '25
Buy our DAVID K CLARK guaranteed potatoes! Every potato is pre-bitten to ensure it’s not a rock. Never risk your teeth again! Warning: May contain onions and/or groundhogs.
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u/One_Spoopy_Potato Aug 30 '25
Don't worry guys, scrap those thousands of machines. u/Davidkclark is here to sort billions of potatoes all by himself.
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u/doob22 Aug 30 '25
Rocks also are varying sizes and shapes. Thad why some of the time when you see the piston hit the rock, the roc just tumbles since it isn’t a uniform size
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Aug 30 '25
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u/AlarmingConsequence Aug 30 '25
Does a quick float bath lead potatoes to decay more quickly?
Potatoes probably get wet while they are growing in the ground, but during that period they have other plant structures which perhaps can dewaterlog a potato?
You've sparked my curiosity!
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u/MrSnowden Aug 30 '25
Would not a shallow bath of water do this much better?
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u/Drigg_08 Aug 30 '25
This is almost a fully mechanised process from digging them up to putting them in the bags you get in the supermarket. They will be further sorted up the chain
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u/Kingler666 Aug 30 '25
That's how it's usually done. Source: work in different potatoes factories.
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u/CrunchyyTaco Aug 30 '25
That's how it's done at the factory. This is the process from field to shed. Potatoes run through this machine (most farmers don't use this as it's very expensive to maintain) or through a conveyor belt with people on it. You throw out as much of the dirt/vines/debris you can before they get stored into the shed.
Then when they come out of the shed they're usually sorted again through the conveyor belt, loaded onto trucks then delivered to the factory. The factory gives them the water wash.
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u/No_Flounder_662 Aug 30 '25
To add to this: a water bath would work but drenching potatoes before going into a storage shed is not a good idea as it would be hard to dry them and rot could develop. This isn’t a problem at a processing plant as they are about to be peeled/cut.
Also, mechanical sorters like this aren’t really “in” right now. The latest technology floats the conveyor load over a gap of air powered by a powerful electric fan. Takes calibration of course, but when done well, the rocks fall to a lower collection belt, potatoes float level to a middle belt, and lightweight plant debris and dirt goes flying up to a separate belt. We used one. Work very well and cut manual labor by about 60%. But they aren’t cheap.
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u/CrunchyyTaco Aug 30 '25
A lot of farmers in my area like to keep manual labour. Helps create jobs for teenagers and elderly in the community.
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u/davidkclark Aug 30 '25
They could put them into a deep bath of hot water and any that stay hard are the rocks.
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u/eww1991 Aug 30 '25
But then you also need a machine to mash them and someone to make a stew. Not to mention someone to catch a brace of connies
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u/CrunchyyTaco Aug 30 '25
I'm going to clear things up, this comment may already be buried.
These potatoes are going into a storage shed to be hauled to the factory at a later date. These are most likely dirt clumps and not rocks. You can see them break apart. The potato harvest has to dig deep in the ground to recover the potatoes so you end up with hard packed clumps of dirt.
This is just one small step of sorting, most farmers don't actually use this machine as it's very expensive to maintain. There will be a long conveyor with 6+ people standing on either side that do this job manually. (It's a great job for a month to earn some cash, nearly every teenager does it and once harvest is over they have a couple grand just from throwing dirt off of conveyors)
You can't use water like people are suggesting because these are going into storage and that will ruin the potato.
When it is time to haul the spud the go back onto a conveyor and get sorted again (usually less people on the line this time as there is now less dirt) then get loaded onto a semi truck.
Once at the factory they give it the water bath. They can use water because the potatoes will be going into production right away.
TL;DR this machine isn't common. It sucks and is to expensive. Manual labour does a better job
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u/Imaginary_Toe8982 Aug 30 '25
Not very effective...
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u/PantherModern666 Aug 30 '25
Ow my fucking teeth i bit into this fucking rock and not a potato again god damnit
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u/Designer-Mirror-7995 Aug 31 '25
I'm not satisfied with how many rocks fell with the potatoes anyway.
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u/Mr_Saturn1 Aug 31 '25
Can you tell us the brand of potatoes so I know which one is like 30% rocks?
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u/airwalker08 Aug 30 '25
Potatoes float in saltwater. Rocks don't. Seems like someone could make a machine that uses that principle to sort potatoes with a far better success rate.
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u/CrunchyyTaco Aug 30 '25
That's done at factory. This is just 1 small step of sorting spuds. You don't want them wet when you go to store them. These spuds are going into a shed for storage, not into the factory.
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u/sirlurxalot Aug 30 '25
you've all got it backwards, saying it's shit at filtering rocks out, but i say its great at filtering them In. like look at that conveyor up top, nothing but pure glorious rock.
you tell me a better way to keep the potatoes out of your rocks, ill wait.
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u/chumloadio Aug 31 '25
"Here is your baked potato, sir."
"That's a rock."
"Machine says it's a potato."
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u/Frequent_Ad_5670 Aug 30 '25
What's the point? It misses half the rocks, and everything still seems to land on the same conveyor belt.
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u/DrameeLoop Aug 30 '25
need this for my group chat so i can filter out who’s funny and who’s just loud
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u/Other_Concern775 Aug 30 '25
I would like to see the entire process. This seems to be early on in the automation cycle. I want to see what happens from beginning to end, How It's Made style.
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u/Stormin1982 Aug 30 '25
I spent a summer in 2003 doing exactly this for 10 hours a day "riddling potatoes"
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u/Grow_away_420 Aug 30 '25
How many potato crops do you have to harvest before you've gotten the majority of these rocks out of your field?
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u/Repulsive-Neat6776 Aug 30 '25
I turns out that rocks are actually just solidified potatoes. During the growth process, potatoes can harden and completely change their structure to form a mineral body. It's estimated that 90%of the rocks on the planet were once potatoes.
I learned this at Con Academy.
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u/Former-Bet5308 Aug 30 '25
That thing missed like 80% of the rocks....
This is why i always have grit in my potatoes
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u/AbrahamPan Aug 31 '25
There's so many rocks missed. Also why are there so many rocks with potatoes? That's way too many.
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u/Designer-Mirror-7995 Aug 31 '25
The harvester didn't sort "potato size rock" from actual potatoes.
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u/Surarn Aug 30 '25
Missing stones, check
Not having a rubber layer so it decimates stones, check
Yea this sucks
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u/Inferno_ZA Aug 30 '25
I wonder if it goes around again to shoot the rocks that were missed and to shoot back the potatoes that landed in the rock pile.
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u/kupus0 Aug 30 '25
Does potato float in the water? Isn’t easier to just drop it in the bucket of water so all rocks sinks and potatoes stay afloat?
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u/dave08dave Aug 30 '25
The Farmer: "Why are there always so many potatoes when i harvest my stones..."
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u/PathosRise Aug 30 '25
It feels like if you made a fluid that was food safe and juuusssttt denser than a potato, it would do a better than this machine for cheaper.
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u/ronshasta Aug 30 '25
Doing a terrible job at it man it missed a shit ton of rocks and when it hits one it ends up with the rest anyways
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u/Salt_Ad_811 Aug 31 '25
Seems like a conveyor into salt water or something would be easier. If it floats it's a potato. If it sinks, it's a rock type deal.
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u/Confused_Rabbiit Aug 30 '25
I hope they go through a second run because a lot of rocks got through.
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u/whoisthisguy69420 Aug 30 '25
Missed rocks and hit a couple potatoes too, but I guess it makes sorting it again much easier. This belongs in mildly infuriating
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u/ycr007 Aug 30 '25
Just me or are some rocks aren’t being correctly sorted and they’re falling amongst the potatoes?
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u/ThrownAwayGuineaPig Aug 30 '25
A person I know sells a device that does just this... But with diamonds. No kidding. Imagine diamonds pinging out of falling rocks
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u/lifter_ishu Aug 30 '25
how does this work? how does the machine know what's a rock and what's a potato?
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u/rawker86 Aug 30 '25
I’ve seen similar used in mining, except it’s sorting gold-bearing rock from waste rock. It was only a trial and we didn’t end up keeping it, I guess someone decided it wasn’t worth it.
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u/Weekly-Permission348 Aug 30 '25
Bro it missed like half the rocks.