内容来源：https://www.geekwire.com/2026/high-tech-player-in-collectibles-startup-uses-robotics-and-ai-to-sort-analyze-and-sell-trading-cards/

内容总结：

【科技创企Gradient：用机器人+AI破解千万张卡牌整理难题，瞄准百亿美元收藏市场】

当蒂姆·克拉西尔位于华盛顿州家中的客厅窗户被成堆的收藏卡牌挡住雷尼尔山景时，他的朋友马特·卢伯斯半开玩笑地问：“你到底在干什么？”这个看似日常的疑问，竟催生出一家融合机器人技术与人工智能的卡牌管理科技公司。

作为拥有约700万张卡牌的资深收藏家，克拉西尔曾估算，若以每周手工整理2.5万张的速度，需要15年才能完成分类。而如今，他与卢伯斯联合创立的Gradient公司，正通过定制机器人系统实现日均处理10万张卡牌的突破。

在位于西雅图海湾者足球俱乐部训练基地旁的仓库内，八台机器人分拣机持续低鸣运转。这些由曾任亚马逊、Zipline等公司机器视觉专家的卢伯斯设计的设备，通过3D打印托盘与柔性吸盘轻柔转移卡牌，在高速扫描中实现“零损伤”数字化归档。每天，系统可处理50万张卡牌图像，并依托搭载六块GPU的定制超级计算机，与3000万种卡牌变体数据库进行AI比对分析。

目前Gradient已获得600万美元融资，投资者包括海湾者队大股东阿德里安·哈瑙尔。公司采用订阅制服务，针对从个人藏家到商业客户的不同需求，提供每月9.99美元至99.99美元的分级方案，涵盖扫描、存储、估值及代售等全链条服务。通过专属网络平台，用户可随时查看藏品数字档案，并一键将卡牌挂载至eBay或Gradient自有交易平台销售。

在收藏卡牌市场规模达150亿美元的美国，Gradient正与Ludex、CollX等AI估值平台同台竞技。但其核心竞争力在于规模化处理能力——当前最大客户已交付超50万张卡牌待处理。公司联合创始人表示：“我们的使命是帮助收藏者厘清藏品价值，让尘封在阁楼鞋盒里的数千张卡牌重获新生。”

随着直播开卡节目在堆积如山的卡牌箱旁火热进行，这家拥有25名员工的初创企业，正试图用科技重构收藏品管理生态，让每张可能被遗忘的纸片，都找到通往价值的路径。

中文翻译：

马特·卢伯斯表示，他创立新公司的灵感源于一次拜访朋友蒂姆·克洛西尔家的经历。当时克洛西尔家客厅观赏雷尼尔山的视野被部分遮挡，而罪魁祸首竟是堆积如山的克洛西尔个人收藏交易卡牌。

这些卡牌不仅占据了客厅，连车库也被层层叠叠的卡牌箱塞满。作为资深收藏家，克洛西尔拥有约700万张卡牌。他曾估算若纯手工分类整理，每周最多处理2.5万张，并告诉妻子按此进度需耗时15年才能完成整理。

"我当时问他'你到底在干什么'，这完全合情合理吧？"卢伯斯向GeekWire坦言。

"朋友们来做客时看到我在整理卡牌，通常都会绕道走。"克洛西尔回忆道，"但马特充满好奇心，他不断追问细节，最后提出关键问题：'你觉得科技能为你做些什么？'"

这场四年前的对话催生的初创公司，如今正在探索科技的可能性。总部位于华盛顿州伦顿的Gradient公司已正式运营，通过定制机器人技术与人工智能系统，为体育卡、游戏卡等各类收藏卡牌提供分类、分析、上架和销售服务。

公司旨在从规模达150亿美元的美国卡牌市场中分得一杯羹，帮助各类规模的收藏者管理藏品，并让他们能在eBay上快速实现那些被遗忘宝藏的价值。

卡牌极客与工程师的融合

这家低调运作的公司位于西雅图海湾人足球俱乐部伦顿训练基地——普罗维登斯瑞典表现中心内，与俱乐部总部仅一厅之隔。海湾人队大股东阿德里安·哈瑙尔正是Gradient的投资人，公司目前已从亲友圈筹集600万美元资金。

担任CEO的克洛西尔15岁便结识哈瑙尔，曾在哈瑙尔家族经营的太平洋海岸羽绒公司任职三十年，该公司主营枕头和毛毯制造业务。

Gradient的办公空间乍看与普通科技初创公司无异，但处处可见成箱的卡牌——滚动货架旁堆叠的卡牌箱总计容纳千万张藏品，现有空间更可扩容至三倍容量。细看任何打开的卡牌箱或整齐堆叠的卡组，都能发现跨越棒球、橄榄球、篮球、冰球等领域的体坛名宿与当代巨星身影。

工作区内，既有员工在桌旁手工筛选卡牌，也有技术员在电脑前数字化翻阅卡牌档案或编写管理程序。这里融合了卡牌发烧友与工程师两种文化。

角落传来八台机器人分拣机的嗡鸣声，定制传送装置（形似摇滚演唱会舞台设备）通过气流脉冲与机械传动实现卡牌流转，这些设备正是首席技术官卢伯斯的心血结晶。这位计算机视觉与人工智能专家过去十五年曾在采埃孚集团、法拉第未来、Voyage、亚马逊机器人和Zipline等企业从事自动驾驶汽车与无人机复杂系统研发。

"当时我们发现这个行业科技应用严重不足，这让我们异常兴奋。"卢伯斯解释道，"如果能让卡牌处理速度飞跃提升呢？如果能大幅缩短客户乃至专家鉴别定价的时间呢？这就是我们打造的系统。"

当前机器人日均处理量可达10万张卡牌，且预留了设备扩容空间。卢伯斯对这套系统呵护备至，暂未允许GeekWire拍摄工作状态的机器人影像。

在明亮灯光下，机器将卡牌快速移送至平板扫描仪采集背面图像，同时顶置相机拍摄正面照片，实现每张卡牌的实体与数字化双重归档。尽管高速机器人处理脆弱且可能价值不菲的纸质卡牌听起来颇具风险，但系统设计令人赞叹：从3D打印的卡牌取放托盘，到黄油般柔顺的真空吸爪，每个细节都确保卡牌绝无划痕损伤。

采集图像实时传输至邻近服务器机房，三台定制超级计算机（采用类似英伟达H100/H200芯片的高密度配置，各配备六块GPU）每日处理50万张图像，对照3000万种卡牌变体数据库进行分析评分。

收藏管理的科技革命

Gradient正进入技术密集型的生态圈，当前收藏者已普遍使用Ludex、CollX、Card Boss及eBay扫码上架等功能，通过手机应用快速扫描即可获得卡牌评级与估价。其最接近的工业级竞争对手或许是TCG machines，该公司的机器人分拣机被卡牌商店用于每小时处理数千张卡牌。

除展示高速精准处理海量卡牌的能力外，Gradient更致力于证明其能高效存储藏品，通过二维码箱盒系统快速定位，并在收藏市场流通变现。公司客户拓展刚起步，当前最大客户已交付超50万张卡牌待处理。

分级订阅制吸引不同规模的客户：按次扫描服务每张0.4美元；高级订阅月费9.99美元可管理1万张卡牌；专业版月费29.99美元额度3万张；商业版月费99.99美元额度10万张，各层级均含安全存储等权益。

客户可通过个人网络门户管理收藏、查看卡牌图像与详细信息，经Gradient收藏店铺在eBay上架，并监控交易状态。用户既可单选某张卡牌，也可一键操作"将所有卡牌发至eBay"，系统将自动生成对应指令。

根据订阅等级，Gradient收取16%-20%的销售分成，其中13%-14%用于覆盖eBay平台成本。这家25人规模的初创公司不仅在成堆卡牌箱后的临时工作室里直播开箱宝可梦卡包拍卖，同时正在建设自主交易平台，未来将让客户自由选择在Gradient、eBay或双平台同步上架。

就像孩子在街角便利店拆开崭新卡包时的无限遐想，Gradient带来的可能性同样广阔无垠。尤其对于那些终于翻出阁楼鞋盒里数千张积尘卡牌，却不知从何下手的收藏者——无论是孩童或是成年爱好者。

"我们的使命是帮助您实现藏品数字化并厘清收藏内容，"卢伯斯总结道，"而如何处置这些宝藏，选择权始终在您手中。"

英文来源：

Matt Lubbers says the genesis for his new startup was a visit to his friend Tim Clothier‘s house, where a living room view of Mount Rainier was partially obstructed. The problem? A mountain of trading cards from Clothier’s personal collection was in the way.
They weren’t just in the living room. The garage was full of boxes of cards stacked on top of more boxes. A longtime collector, Clothier numbers his lot at about 7 million cards. Separating and organizing them all by hand, he figured he could handle about 25,000 cards a week. He told his wife it would take about 15 years to sort them at that pace.
“I don’t think it was crazy for me to say, ‘What are you doing here?'” Lubbers told GeekWire.
“My friends, when they’re over, I’ll be sorting and they kind of run the other way,” Clothier said. “Matt’s very inquisitive and he started asking questions, and he said, ‘What do you think technology could do for you?'”
More than four years after that initial conversation, the startup co-founders are finding out what technology can do. Renton, Wash.-based Gradient is up and running, using custom robotics and artificial intelligence to help sort, analyze, list and sell sports trading cards, gaming cards, and more.
The goal is to grab a slice of the $15 billion U.S. trading card market, to help customers manage collections small and large, and to simply and quickly get a return on eBay for sometimes forgotten treasures.
Card geeks and engineers
The stealthy operation is located across the hall from the headquarters offices for Seattle Sounders FC at the soccer club’s Renton facilities — the Providence Swedish Performance Center & Clubhouse. Sounders majority owner Adrian Hanauer is an investor in Gradient, which has raised $6 million from mostly friends and family.
Clothier, the CEO, has known Hanauer since he was 15 years old. He spent 30 years at Pacific Coast Feather Co., the Hanauer family’s onetime pillow and blanket manufacturing business.
The sprawling Gradient space looks like any upstart tech company office with a few notable exceptions. There are boxes upon boxes full of trading cards everywhere, stacked near rows of rolling racks also containing boxes of cards — 10 million in all and room for three times that.
A close look at any open box or neat stack of cards reveals the faces of sports heroes past and present across baseball, football, basketball, hockey and more.
Around a few tables there are employees shuffling through some cards by hand. Others at computer stations digitally flip through card files or write the code that helps manage such work. The environment is a mix of card geeks and engineers.
And in one corner, the hum of eight robotic sorters can be heard, pulsing with little bursts of air and whirring as components move cards back and forth on a custom rigging apparatus that looks like something from a rock concert stage.
The system is the brainchild of Lubbers, the chief technology officer, who is a computer vision and AI expert who spent the past 15 years building complex systems and robots for autonomous vehicles and self-flying drones at ZF Group, Faraday Future, Voyage, Amazon Robotics and Zipline.
“We saw that there wasn’t much tech, at the time, in this industry. That’s what got us excited,” he said. “What if we could process cards extremely fast? What if we could reduce the amount of time someone, a customer or even expert, took to identify or price or list the card? That’s what we built.”
Up to 100,000 cards a day can be processed by the robots — and there is room to add more machines.
Lubbers is especially protective of what he’s built, and wasn’t ready yet for GeekWire to shoot photographs or video of the robots at work.
Under bright lights, the machines rapidly move cards to flatbed scanners to capture images of the card backs as cameras positioned overhead take photographs of the card fronts. Every single card is physically and digitally cataloged.
While it may sound like fast-moving robots could be a recipe for disaster when mixed with delicate and sometimes quite valuable paper cards, the system is impressive. From the shape of the 3D-printed trays in which the cards are picked and then dropped, to the buttery soft suction fingers that gently lift each card, there is great care taken to never mark or damage any card.
The collected images are instantly sent to a nearby server room where three custom supercomputers — utilizing a high-density configuration similar to NVIDIA’s H100 or H200 chips — house six GPUs each. These machines handle all AI model training and inference testing, crunching through 500,000 images a day to analyze and score cards against a database of 30 million variants.
Storing and managing a collection
Gradient joins an increasingly tech-heavy ecosystem where AI-powered platforms like Ludex, CollX, Card Boss and eBay’s own scan-to-list feature are already used by collectors to instantly grade and price cards with quick scans via mobile phone apps. Gradient’s closest industrial competitor is probably TCG machines, which makes a robotic sorter used by card shops to process thousands of cards an hour.
Gradient’s goal beyond demonstrating how quickly it can process and accurately assess many thousands of cards is also to prove that it can efficiently store them, find them easily via QR-coded boxes and trays, and move them on the collectors’ market.
The company is just getting started in attracting customers, but its largest so far has given Gradient more than 500,000 cards to process.
Different subscription price tiers attract different customers and collection sizes. Pay-as-you-go card scanning runs 40 cents per card. A premium level subscription is $9.99 per month for up to 10,000 cards; Pro is $29.99 per month for up to 30,000 cards; and Commercial is $99.99 per month for up to 100,000 cards. The levels include secure storage and other perks.
Customers gain access to a personal web portal where they can manage their collections and see images of their cards, read the card details, list them on eBay through the Gradient Collects store, and monitor active and sold listings. A customer can choose one card or “send all my cards to eBay” and Gradient’s system will generate such a request.
Gradient takes between 16% and 20% per sale, depending on the subscription level, with 13% or 14% of that covering the costs with eBay.
The startup, which employs 25 people, streams live auctions on eBay where hosts excitedly open packs of Pokémon cards from a makeshift in-house studio located behind piles of boxes. And the company is also building its own marketplace so it can give customers the option of listing with Gradient, eBay or both.
Like a kid opening a fresh pack of cards at the corner mini mart, the possibilities with Gradient seem pretty endless. Especially for the kid, or, let’s face it, the adult collector, who finally uncovers those attic shoeboxes stuffed with thousands of cards and doesn’t know where to start.
“Our job is to help you digitize and inform you what you have, and then you get to choose what you wanna do with it,” Lubbers said.