Abstract: A tray and method for efficient counting of a desired number of pharmaceutical pills or capsules from a bulk supply and distributing said counted pills and any excess pills into a target container and the bulk supply respectively. The preferred embodiment of this invention incorporates a sprung, hinged flap which, when pressed into contact with the flat counting surface, forms a trapping enclosure for excess pills while the desired number of pills are poured with a novel funneling structure. Although useful by itself, the tray and method are designed for optimal time and motion efficiency and for accuracy when used with a machine-vision pill counter.

Abstract: A multi-player, indoor human light-tag game system includes as game elements additional non-human players in the form of one or more computer-controlled aircraft with the abilities to shoot and be shot via light by the human players, thereby creating a novel game very different from conventional light-tag.

Abstract: A vision based pill counting aid and method that rely on an electronic camera and a source of detectable radiation to detect pill/capsule image or silhouette and thereby, through the use of appropriate software, provide an accurate pill/capsule count. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention low cost, inexpensive, low power, and cool LED radiation sources are utilized as the imaging radiation source. A preferred CMOS camera that incorporates a vision chip detects the number of pixels of radiation interrupting the radiation from the LEDs reaching the CMOS camera. Through the use of appropriate software, the number of pills/capsules present in the field of view of the CMOS camera is determined and communicated to an operator through a display device.

Abstract: A bird feeder equipped with an electrically powered spinning mechanism that is triggered by the weight of a squirrel on the feeder is described. Upon detection of a squirrel on the feeder, the spinning mechanism rotates the feeder at a rate adequate to centrifugally remove the invading squirrel while resulting in a minimum loss of feed contained in the feeder.

Abstract: A bird feeder equipped with an electrically powered spinning mechanism that is triggered by the weight of a squirrel on the feeder is described. Upon detection of a squirrel on the feeder, the spinning mechanism rotates the feeder at a rate adequate to centrifugally remove the invading squirrel while resulting in a minimum loss of feed contained in the feeder.