My Nonstop / Skittles sorting machine

[Kaptein QK]

I really don't need my candy sorted, but I like the challenge



There is still a few problems:

Candy dispenser works poorly when it is much candy in it. I am going to make a motorized stirrer for it.

Color recognition sometimes fails. I will try to improve the algorithm.

Technical:
Parts made on my 3D-printer.
TCS3200 color sensor.
Arduino Nano (No Arduino IDE where harmed)
Standard R/C servos.

[David_AVD]

Way too much time on your hands!   

[Clint]

I absolutely love it, however you are working on a problem that does not exist:

http://www.temptationcandy.com/favorite-candy-brands/skittles.html

But seriously full respect, showing a multitude of high end skills !

[Skimask]

Candy dispenser works poorly when it is much candy in it. I am going to make a motorized stirrer for it.

Put a cell phone vibrator motor on the side of the hopper....either that or a paint can shaker motor

[Jon86]

Holy crap, 3D printers are seriously impressive! Well the whole project is!

[Legit-Design]

Color recognition sometimes fails. I will try to improve the algorithm.

Could it be that you are using cold white almost blue leds? Cold white might be the cheapest in volume, maybe they specced something else and decided to save money on manufacturing by optimizing.

But I agree with everyone else, that is really nice. 

[Corporate666]

That's pretty cool!  Here is one I built over the course of a weekend

2/2




















  (obviously not something I built) 

[iceisfun]

Thats awesome!

I'm working on a robot to play pool, there are a lot of challenges on this and I am running into some custom parts that need made so I've gone a little off track into making a 3D CNC mill to make other parts.

I think the color and ball position will be the most critical part, I have a good grasp on the table solver, robotics and electronics but its a fun project. Maybe someday it will even run a rack or more importantly run large test sets of data on tips, draw, follow, etc with no human failure factors involved.

[ElectronicTonic]

Way too much time on your hands!   

No such thing as too much time on one's hands. The truth is - there is never enough time to do everything one wants to do.

[codeboy2k]

That's pretty cool!  Here is one I built over the course of a weekend

So that's what robots do all night long when we are sleeping and they are bored.

[sprocket]

  plus 1 the nerd scale. I'm impressed with the nice use of a 3D printer.

[Kaptein QK]

I absolutely love it, however you are working on a problem that does not exist:

http://www.temptationcandy.com/favorite-candy-brands/skittles.html

But seriously full respect, showing a multitude of high end skills !

It is even worse: the "skittles" I am using is a Norwegian brand called "Nonstop" (makes sense! :-), and all the colors have same taste!   

[Kaptein QK]

Candy dispenser works poorly when it is much candy in it. I am going to make a motorized stirrer for it.

Put a cell phone vibrator motor on the side of the hopper....either that or a paint can shaker motor

I could not find a vibrator motor (....lulz..  )
I bet a paint shaker would make a fine brown powder out of the candy

[Kaptein QK]

Color recognition sometimes fails. I will try to improve the algorithm.

Could it be that you are using cold white almost blue leds? Cold white might be the cheapest in volume, maybe they specced something else and decided to save money on manufacturing by optimizing.

But I agree with everyone else, that is really nice. 

I think you are right, I was confuzzled over the strange RGB values I got from the sensor. AFAIK the white leds is mostly blue and yellow wavelenghts.
I will replace the leds with a small incadecent bulb for a more flat spectrum.

[Kaptein QK]

A red, green and blue led will probably do it, but I see no use for a IR one.

[Kaptein QK]

Update:

I used RGB LEDs instead of the "white" ones. Also controlled the LEDs instead of the RGB filters on the sensor. This improved the color recognition.

Also I added a servo driven stirrer to help the candy into the dispenser. This made it better, but still it misses sometimes.



Also I have attached source code and the Sketchup 3D file.
 

[Rufus]

Impressive result. I don't think I could put that much time and effort into something which has no practical use.

One thing that strikes me is how sequential it is. There is no reason that it couldn't bin the sorted skittle, detect color, and stir the feed bowl simultaneously. One thing at a time seems to be the Arduino way.

[Kjetil]

Ah, good to see quality designs coming out of Norway 
Have you printed it in ABS or PLA?

[dissidence]

this is just a though but how hard would it be to use 1 servo on the end that pushes the 2 arms for the belt and sorter. i think it could work,

but kudos on the design.

[sachleen]

Cool project! 

There was another skittle sorting machine on hackaday a few days ago where the interesting thing is that it releases the candy as it rotates the arm to the next cup to make it faster.

[holozip]

Haha, this is amazing! Great job 


EDIT: holy crap, you 3D printed the parts for that... I'm completely and utterly in awe. Well done!

[PedroDaGr8]

Another option is to use high CRI (color rendering index) leds. I'm pretty certain Cree and Nichia make them in a variety of form factors

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

[Rick Law]

I really don't need my candy sorted, but I like the challenge
....

There is still a few problems:

Candy dispenser works poorly when it is much candy in it. I am going to make a motorized stirrer for it.

Color recognition sometimes fails. I will try to improve the algorithm.

Technical:
Parts made on my 3D-printer.
TCS3200 color sensor.
Arduino Nano (No Arduino IDE where harmed)
Standard R/C servos.

Awsome!  I am impressed with your creativity and skill!

[ch3ck]

Hi,
Sorry to use an old topic but I m trying to make this machin and I don't know which pins you used on arduino board to plus servos and sensors. Maybe somthing I didn understand or see (Yees I m really noob).
Is it possible to make the same software with servo library ?

[Fungus]

I absolutely love it, however you are working on a problem that does not exist:

Says who? There's dozens of applications for this, eg. People who recycle plastic bottle caps have to separate them by color.

And if you're applying for a job it doesn't matter what it actually does - look at the brilliant engineering!