Boardsort’s recently launched AI tool allows users to get price estimates for their circuit boards in minutes. | Chaikom/Shutterstock
Circuit board buyer Boardsort has launched a new AI-powered tool for anyone to quickly and accurately grade their e-scrap.
Boardsort’s Optical Scrap Categorization and Reporting tool, or OSCAR, allows users to upload a photo of their circuit board for AI to identify its grade, socket type and estimated price per pound. The tool is free and fully accessible online with a computer or smartphone.
Boardsort owner Chris Skeeles said he designed OSCAR to streamline the process of buying used circuit boards on both ends.
“A fair part of my work day is spent interacting with customers providing basic but necessary grading guidance on common, easily identifiable circuit boards and chips,” Skeeles wrote in a press release. “This tool empowers users to get that same guidance instantly without needing to wait for an email response.”
Skeeles said while the tool was primarily designed to identify the most commonly scrapped circuit boards, such as RAM sticks and motherboards, he found there was a significant demand for ways to identify more complex circuit board types as well.
“If you’re going to use an AI assistant, you’ve probably already graduated past the basics,” Skeeles said. “So now what we found ourselves doing is working with the challenge of trying to get it to understand the more advanced scrap levels.”
Rather than using typical image comparisons to identify a circuit board, OSCAR’s AI system uses “visual reasoning” by recognizing a few parts of the board and matching it to a circuit board type that would use the same parts. According to Skeeles, this process makes the AI more accurate and capable of identifying more diverse circuit board types.
OSCAR is designed to allow users to get an accurate estimate even without much knowledge on circuit boards. According to Skeeles, OSCAR will serve as an easy entry point for sellers new to e-scrap.
“For the beginner, it’s an icebreaker. It’s like having someone with them that can guide them through,” Skeeles said. “So time-saver on my part and the confidence builder on the customer’s part.”
AI recognition software is an increasingly valuable tool in e-scrap recycling for sellers and processors. Skeeles said that while OSCAR and tools like it may automate some basic aspects of e-scrap grading, he expects the experience of a human is likely to continue to be valuable.
Boardsort plans on continuing to advance OSCAR’s capability. According to Skeeles, the next update will allow users to identify two-sided circuit boards with photos of the front and back.