A punching device is provided for processing samples applied to a sample card comprising at least one punching head with a punch and a lower die, the punch being movable between a resting position and a punching position. In order to recognize a complex event, the system keeps a record of the sub-events that have occurred thus far and the objects involved in these sub-events. The pivotable attachment of the cylinder may be horizontally and vertically offset from a pivot connection of the scissors lift. In one embodiment, the tracking system couples to a handheld tool. An identifying descriptor of the person or object can be computed based on both the appearance labeled image and the shape labeled image.