Optical processing to control a washing apparatus

A system comprising:

• a camera configured to capture an image of one or more wares to be washed by a washing apparatus;
• a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a plurality of item profiles, each of the item profiles comprising a visual signature and one or more wash cycle characteristics;
• and
• a control unit configured to retrieve the image, detect one of the visual signatures of the plurality of item profiles in the image, select the one of the item profiles corresponding to the detected visual signature, enable the washing apparatus, and automatically disable the washing apparatus after the ware is determined to be clean in accordance with the selected one of the item profiles.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions for causing a programmable processor to:

• detect a visual signature of a ware to be washed by a washing apparatus coupled to the programmable processor in an image captured by a camera coupled to the programmable processor;
• select an item profile corresponding to the detected visual signature;
• enable the washing apparatus;
• and
• automatically disable the washing apparatus after the ware is determined to be clean in accordance with the selected item profile.