Automated acquisition and notification system

A data acquisition and notification system adapted to be associated with at least one array of receptacles, the system comprising:

• a sensor group of at least one sensor in each receptacle of the array, the sensor group adapted to detect a presence of a subject material placed in the receptacle, wherein at least one sensor of the sensor group includes an electromagnetic emitter and photovoltaic detector, wherein emitted electromagnetic radiation by the emitter reflects off of any subject material present in the receptacle and any reflection is sensed by the photovoltaic detector;
• a system database configured to maintain data representing sensor information;
• monitoring hardware communicatively coupled to each sensor of the array of receptacles and controlled by a data acquisition program that causes the monitoring hardware to gather sensor information from the sensors and communicate the data representing the sensor information to the system database;
• and
• a notification system communicatively coupled to the system database and adapted to issue notifications that are based on data maintained by the system database.

A data acquisition and notification system adapted to be associated with at least one array of receptacles, the system comprising:

• a sensor group of at least one sensor in each receptacle of the array, the sensor group adapted to detect a presence of a subject material placed in the receptacle, wherein at least one sensor of the sensor group includes data analysis and storage capability;
• a system database configured to maintain data representing sensor information;
• monitoring hardware communicatively coupled to each sensor of the array of receptacles and controlled by a data acquisition program that causes the monitoring hardware to gather sensor information from the sensors and communicate the data representing the sensor information to the system database;
• and
• a notification system communicatively coupled to the system database and adapted to issue notifications that are based on data maintained by the system database.