Is it a bird? Is it a plane?! Unfortunately, it most likely won’t be Superman. And, chances are, it’s not the Twister either. But it is something peculiar. It’s anunknown object(not from space, though!) that needs some help from the Internet to identify it.
Luckily, there is a subreddit for that. The What Is This Thing community is fortunately still going strong with more than 2.7 million members! It’s a place where you can post a picture of an item that you can’t for the life of you figure out what it is or where it came from. The Internet will most likely come to your aid, and the subreddit’s detectives will tell you what yourstrange objectis.
Bored Panda reached out to Celia Quillian, an AI expert who previously lent her expertise to TIME magazine and the Today Show. We wanted to know whether the current AI technology could make the subreddit’s job easier. She told us more about how AI models recognize objects in pictures, what challenges we might run into, and what the future of AI image recognition technology is. Read our interview with her below!
More info:What Is This Thing?|Celia Quillian on Instagram|Celia Quillian on TikTok
This post may includeaffiliate links.
A Victorian toothbrush. The handle is made of animal bone and the holes are where the bristles (normally pig or horse hair) would go. Bristle toothbrushes like this were invented in China in the 1400s, but contrary to all that seems good and sane in this world, most Europeans weren’t all that into toothbrushes until the late 1700s/early 1800s. Source: am archaeologist.
The r/WhatIsThisThing subreddit is a pretty old community. It has been alive for about 15 years now.Bored Panda spoketo one of the community’s moderators back in 2020, and they told us what the reasons behind the subreddit’s success might be. It’s that people like playing amateur detectives and helping others find out what their mystery object is.Redditors love to share their knowledge, and it’s especially rewarding when knowing something niche helps someone else. “Many [people] have unique and obscure knowledge and they like to use it. Get enough of them together and they cover most things,” the moderator told us a few years back. It’s hard not to get involved when some interesting items show up – that’s another reason for the subreddit’s popularity.
The r/WhatIsThisThing subreddit is a pretty old community. It has been alive for about 15 years now.Bored Panda spoketo one of the community’s moderators back in 2020, and they told us what the reasons behind the subreddit’s success might be. It’s that people like playing amateur detectives and helping others find out what their mystery object is.
Redditors love to share their knowledge, and it’s especially rewarding when knowing something niche helps someone else. “Many [people] have unique and obscure knowledge and they like to use it. Get enough of them together and they cover most things,” the moderator told us a few years back. It’s hard not to get involved when some interesting items show up – that’s another reason for the subreddit’s popularity.
Vintage Christofle Orfevre a Paris Silver Plated Medicine/Invalid Feeder Spoon.
Back then, the moderator also told Bored Panda that almost all mystery cases get solved. “A majority of things are solved within 15 minutes of posting,” the mod said. The Redditor assessed that about 10% of the posters never get final answers. With a community of 2.7 million people, it’s no wonder how quick it can be – its strength is in its numbers.
Telephone nook/niche.
It’s to grow mushrooms. Called a fruiting house. It looks like there is even substrate there that you use in growing mushrooms.
With all this talk about identifying strange objects from pictures, one has to think about whether we could use AI to do the job. IfDog Scannercan tell me how much shih tzu my little rescue pooch has in him, why can’t I use it to identify an unknown object? We consulted Celia Quillian, a digital creator who shares her knowledge about artificial intelligence on TikTok and Instagram.Celia tells us that current AI models are capable of helping us identify an unknown object in a picture. “While at this point in time there are no AI models that can identify absolutely everything, there are many AI tools that have image recognition features,” Quillian explains. The best-known tools for that include ChatGPTPlus, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. “I’ve used these myself to help identify photos of plants or animals on nature walks,” Celia adds.
With all this talk about identifying strange objects from pictures, one has to think about whether we could use AI to do the job. IfDog Scannercan tell me how much shih tzu my little rescue pooch has in him, why can’t I use it to identify an unknown object? We consulted Celia Quillian, a digital creator who shares her knowledge about artificial intelligence on TikTok and Instagram.
Celia tells us that current AI models are capable of helping us identify an unknown object in a picture. “While at this point in time there are no AI models that can identify absolutely everything, there are many AI tools that have image recognition features,” Quillian explains. The best-known tools for that include ChatGPTPlus, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. “I’ve used these myself to help identify photos of plants or animals on nature walks,” Celia adds.
A mini refillable hot/cold pack for headaches or injuries.
Baoding balls. They’re for stress and concentration. You’re supposed to put them both in the palm of your hand and rotate them around each other in a circle.
It is an Ikebana Vase. It is for Japanese style flower arrangements. The flowers go in the tubes and the rest is also filled with water, usually smooth stones, or maybe a small turtle or frog sculpture.
The elastic in the fabric disintegrating.
A spindle that Boeing weaves the carbon fiber fuselage for the Dreamliner on.
Sheet pan rack
“A more detailed description of the thing if the image is lower quality or taken from far away can be helpful in identifying [it],” Celia explains. “Generally, the tool will tell you outright what the thing is, or, if it is less clear, it will tell you that it may have trouble with the identification but could propose some suggestions of what it might be.”
A letter seal.
A wheel chock.
The clay plug from the bottom of a fireworks tube.
Naturally,AI still isn’t perfectand you might run into some challenges. Celia Quillian says that it all comes down to the quality and quantity of training data the AI model has on visuals of this particular type of object.“Say you made a unique object at home out of a variety of things around the house and posted it to the Internet saying ‘This invention is called a Riesmatch!’ If you were to then upload a photo of the ‘Reismatch’ into an AI tool and ask it to identify it, it would not be able to come up with the ‘correct’ name but rather suggest a description of all of the recognized objects it is made of.”
Naturally,AI still isn’t perfectand you might run into some challenges. Celia Quillian says that it all comes down to the quality and quantity of training data the AI model has on visuals of this particular type of object.
“Say you made a unique object at home out of a variety of things around the house and posted it to the Internet saying ‘This invention is called a Riesmatch!’ If you were to then upload a photo of the ‘Reismatch’ into an AI tool and ask it to identify it, it would not be able to come up with the ‘correct’ name but rather suggest a description of all of the recognized objects it is made of.”
Congratulations you’ve found a bean bag!
While many are saying “Dutch” door this is actually called “wicket”. A Dutch door has a separate top and bottom half that open together or independently. A wicket is a door (or two in this case) inside of a door. They are used mainly in psych wards as a way to get into a room that may be barricaded.
It’s a pocket roulette wheel, modeled to look like a pocket watch for easy concealment but with a rotating dial instead of an indicator hand. It has 12 parts instead of the typical number to look like a broken pocket watch upon inspection. Most likely this one was crafted out of a pocket watch as some of the original frame is visible around the dial/wheel/face.
If the image is low quality, blurry, or taken from far away, it might be difficult for the AI tool to identify it. “The quality and abundance of the training data goes the other way as well when it comes to AI image generation,” Quillian explains. It’s a simple way of saying that AIcan have biastoo, based on the data it received during its training.
In the army we called it a “clearing station”. If you were to have an unintentional discharge while clearing the weapon, that chamber would stop the bullet
Wood stove pellets that got wet.
A milking machine for goats and/or cows.
Celia explains with an example: “If the great majority of images with the label ‘Professional’ that the AI was trained upon were pictures of white men, giving it the prompt ‘Make me an image of a professional’ is very likely to result in a picture of a white man, unless there is extra additional detail in the prompt to request a different gender or race, or extra training in the model to specifically avoid such bias.”
Pots for succulents.
They are artificial reef balls.They are there to create a “living shoreline” to prevent erosion.
Moroccan solid resin perfume bar. It’s made of resin and wax.
So maybe it’s still too early to expect AI to recognize an old-timey letter seal. Good thing the r/WhatIsThisThing subreddit exists, then! But still, is AI image recognition technology headed that way? Our AI expert says that the most exciting use of it is in medical images. “AI image recognition will allow doctors to detect and diagnose diseases and medical images even faster and earlier.“And some companies are already doing that! Like the Lithuanian startupOxipit, which creates AI tools for global medical imaging. Companies that use this technology might help in addressing the global radiologist shortage and improve diagnostic quality.
So maybe it’s still too early to expect AI to recognize an old-timey letter seal. Good thing the r/WhatIsThisThing subreddit exists, then! But still, is AI image recognition technology headed that way? Our AI expert says that the most exciting use of it is in medical images. “AI image recognition will allow doctors to detect and diagnose diseases and medical images even faster and earlier.”
And some companies are already doing that! Like the Lithuanian startupOxipit, which creates AI tools for global medical imaging. Companies that use this technology might help in addressing the global radiologist shortage and improve diagnostic quality.
Bocce balls
Its to prevent animals from moving from zone to zone. The chains are difficult/ uncomfortable for herd animals to walk across so the dont. Similar chanis/bars are used for other cattle and livestock on farms.Source: been on the safari tour way too many times and had guides tell us that.
Handheld colander for fried foods.
However, with the rapid development of AI image recognition technology there also are some ethical considerations to take into account. “From an ethical standpoint, there are also use cases from the security front that involve AI image recognition to monitor for suspicious activities or detecting threats,” Celia Quillian tells Bored Panda.
With a trunnion on each side, it looks like a small cannon.
OP it’s called a tire thumper, 18 wheelers use them to “check their tires”. Really it’s kept under their seat for self defense. *floral carvings would be a bit out of place tho.
Wax for braces/dental work
“While this can be beneficial in many ways, there are also ethical considerations – will [there be]privacy or data collectionwithout a person’s knowing consent? Could models for detecting suspicious activity similarly be trained on a biased set of data, leading the AI to more frequently raise false alarms for certain populations of people?““I think one of the larger risks, which can be mitigated, is the inherent bias the training data set could have for all use cases, without the proper bounds in place,” Quillian adds.
“While this can be beneficial in many ways, there are also ethical considerations – will [there be]privacy or data collectionwithout a person’s knowing consent? Could models for detecting suspicious activity similarly be trained on a biased set of data, leading the AI to more frequently raise false alarms for certain populations of people?”
“I think one of the larger risks, which can be mitigated, is the inherent bias the training data set could have for all use cases, without the proper bounds in place,” Quillian adds.
A decommissioned arrival/departure display.
Infrared audio transmitter for the hearing impaired.
5G Home WiFi, it connects to 5G cell towers and streetlights and gets the best reception when attached to a plane of glass because 5G attenuates through walls.
Old deer blind turned into kids' fort
They are vintage kazoos, they probably need new baffles in the hole to be able to work properly.
This is an axe for peppermint bark. It comes in the package. Market solved. I’m so excited I’ve never solved one of these.
It’s a narghile/hookah. Looks like it’s purely decorative, not really usable.
It’s part of the foundation. Keeping consistent depth keeps things moving together instead of separately so your steps stay on place and don’t heave or drop in time.
That can slide over the handles of suitcases with wheels so if you travel, you can pull it along with your suitcase and it won’t fall off.
They’re timed valves to keep the water in the distribution lines from getting too old. When the water is in the pipe too long the chlorine level drops too much and the water is unsafe.
I think they’re accessories for hair braids, try googling ‘hair braid cuffs’.
An electric tie iron.
Tamarind spoon. You have Hispanics in the neighborhood. Hit up a liquor store and get a fresh pack and try them out!
An umbrella holder.
An old ash tray.
Magnifier for reading a book.
A Muddler Stick / Cocktail Swizzle Stick.
Hook for attaching “gaiters"example that uses the laces themselves but the hook is a far better option because it’s independent of your laces which can affect how the boot wears
Wife had something similar that was decoration on boots. You could take them off and change them. Its an ornament for a boot. Search for Boot Bracelet. Fits sorta like spurs.
It’s a simple/plane alidade. It’s made out of iron and wood. It measures 52cmx22cm. The hook measures 31 cm. The number at the base go from 0 to 1100.
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It’s a scapular, a devotional scapular to be specific.
Model train transformer
A spring money clip.
I remember these from my kids going to McDonald’s back about 20 years ago. The kids' shoes are small, and if they didn’t fit toe-first, they shoved them in vertically. It’s was all a hope that the shoes would stay together and another kid wouldn’t take the wrong shoes. That’s why I held their shoes in my bag.
It’s self fusing silicone tape, without a doubt. Often used in military applications. It does in fact expire, and will cure into a state where it no longer sticks to itself
I had a friend who had a keychain/key holder like that. Had a mini guitar amp on the wall. The keys attached to what you have. Then plugged into the wall for holding.
LNG (liquid natural gas) containers.
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Those are decorative, but some beds have those to cover the bolts that hold the frame together.
Ashtray for cigarettes. Better than people throwing their butts in the urinal like so many others have done.
It’s for holding the wok level on the stove…
It’s a concealed door closer (and it’s broken)
Turning on a hot water recirculating system. They’re used for faucets that are far from the hot water tank or tankless heater. They circulate hot water through a manifold and back through the cold water line so hot water is immediately available when the faucet is opened. It reduces water wasted while waiting for hot water to get to the faucet.
Lid of a dolls house teapot!
Weights for a patio umbrella.
It’s a HUCK pneumatic/electric rivet gun.
It’s a vape or e-cigarette coil cartridge. More specifically for the eLeaf GS air.
It’s part of a windshield removal/installation kit.
It’s the base of a Tupperware container used to hold burger meat. It keeps leftover hamburger patties and such from touching the bottom of the pan.
It’s for holding to the stick and walking on the roller. For children or who ever wants to. We have several of these here. They are not used very often. People just don’t recognize the purpose.
A stand from a Chinese style paper lampshade. The stay keeps the shade in a globe shape rather than collapsing.
It is a porcelain brush holder
Cheese slicer wire
It is indeed a travel pillow. The curved part goes under your chin…
Under-cabinet radios used to be pretty popular. It could be the bracket for one of those.
A ledge to hold onto.
Knobbed cylinders. Used in montessori schools.
It’s part of the freezer drawer on a french door refrigerator.
It’s an obstruction to keep people off the grass. The pipes were used in a “use what you have” kind of sense, and the bottles are on top to keep the rain from getting into the tubes.
Lip balm. Similar to this: https://www.hottopic.com/product/star-strawberry-lip-balm/20817878.htmlEdit: I think it’s from this set: https://www.ebay.com/itm/143980149629
Fancy ashtray.
It’s a knee pedal for a White sewing machine
A handle for a scrapper.
A flood light.
They remind me of those lines that get closer together as you progress up them, to trick your mind into thinking you are going faster than you are. Usually used when approaching some minor hazard and where other traffic control methods would be inappropriate.
An accessibility feature for people who are visually impaired to indicate the center of the urinal.
It’s Double End Engineer’s Scriber. Commonly known as just a scriber, an engineers scriber tool is used to mark materials, like wood metals and plastics before they undergo machining. They can also be used with various hand tools and are used to mark out the areas to be measured or cut etc.
part of an oil rig
Wrap from the stem end of a bunch of bananas
The sigma alarm/immobiliser.
A Lotto Pen. If you point the writing end up, all the balls move to an open area. Shake, put the ball point down and the lottery picks show up in the window. Taken for the Macro Mondays group theme of ‘numbers’.
India’s PSLV third stage. The cable raceway mounts and the top attachment ring line up exactly, as does the wound composite material.
Crown came off maybe. Definitely seems dental related.
High caliber pellet gun. The pellet hit something hard and shattered.
Upon careful observation of the photograph, it is evident that their presence is associated with the enhancement of the building’s design. The array of diverse colors illuminating the walls implies a deliberate effort to infuse the structure with a captivating and much-needed sense of flair.
Detention pond. That “building” is a drainage port. Bottom hole allows limited outflow and top hole is wide open.
They are for the sides (arms) of glasses to change the look. Google swap eyewear.
it’s not just a holder, it is the screen cleaner itself, you use it the way you have it in the second pic.
A waveguide cover.
I get WWII anti-aircraft gun sight vibes for some reason.
Carbon rods from batteries
Google tells me it’s a bar sink or food prep sink.edit: Some photos show a cutting board in the half-moon area between the counter’s edge and the inside curve of the sink.I can’t imagine it would be good as the only sink in a kitchen, but might be fine as a secondary sink in the kitchen or as a sink in an entertainment area.
The Settle-Carlisle Line is a railway line in the UK. It is in current use and is also a historic route that (at least used to) run a fleet of historic steam locomotives and period carriages.No idea why they would be handing this thing out though. Earplug storage?
This social infrastructure takes the form of a tensile fabric shading element suspended within a wooden frame. The frames are comprised of prefabricated modules and were assembled on this remote site. The structures were intended to provide shade and a moment of rest, but supported emergent activities acting as a platform, a playground, a marker, a memory, and more.
A deer tail car decoration for Christmas.
Shoutout to Marine Antiques in San Diego. Yessery Bob!!
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