Detection of KurlyTie dropping out of machine that makes them

We need to detect our product as it is dropped out of the machine that makes them.

At the end of the manufacturing process the KurlyTies which are held in a clamp are dropped into a bucket.

We can place a sensor or a camera that will see the KurlyTie as it falls.

A simple thru beam sensor does not work because the light beam is not interrupted for long enough to trigger a PLC input.

A full light curtain solution from Banner Engineering is several hundred dollars.

The KurlyTies are black and we can provide a solid white background for a video camera.

We can tell the sensor when to expect the part to drop.

If the video camera “sees” the part it should trigger a short output that will in turn tell our PLC that the part did drop.

We have some experience with UNO and think that the PIXY 2 might be a good option.

This seems like a very simple job for the vision system.  It should work with the basic idea that “anything other than a plain white screen” will constitute a detected event.

 Can you confirm?

Any thing else that you have come to mind?

Is there a single product solution?

Thanks in advance, I get quite confused trying to navigate the online forums.

 We need to detect our product as it is dropped out of the machine that makes them.

At the end of the manufacturing process the KurlyTies which are held in a clamp are dropped into a bucket.

We can place a sensor or a camera that will see the KurlyTie as it falls.

A simple thru beam sensor does not work because the light beam is not interrupted for long enough to trigger a PLC input.

A full light curtain solution from Banner Engineering is several hundred dollars.

The KurlyTies are black and we can provide a solid white background for a video camera.

We can tell the sensor when to expect the part to drop.

If the video camera “sees” the part it should trigger a short output that will in turn tell our PLC that the part did drop.

We have some experience with UNO and think that the PIXY 2 might be a good option.

This seems like a very simple job for the vision system.  It should work with the basic idea that “anything other than a plain white screen” will constitute a detected event.

Can you confirm?

Any thing else that you have come to mind?

Is there a single product solution?

Thanks in advance, I get quite confused trying to navigate the online forums.