Projects: Gum Ball Sorter

Logical and Creative

Gum Ball Problem We've got gum balls, but they are all mixed up	Gum Ball Container A storage area for the gumballs is needed. This also was were we located the colour sensor.	Tilt Mechanism The entire tray was tilted in order to move the gum balls back and forth so they would fall into the colour sensing area.
Worm Gear The tray was pretty heavy so if the power was turned off when the tray was upright, it would fall back down undesirably. So we used a worm gear to move the tray.	Worm Gear View The worm gear could be turned by our motor, but the mechanics of a worm gear don't allow the connected gear of the worm gear to spin the worm gear. It's like a one way force controller.	Sorted Gumball Storage Of course a place is needed to store the sorted gumballs. Origami was used here, though I cannot take credit for that. Clever though.
Carousel Location Sensor In order to know the position of the carousel, a sensor was used to detect a black line on a white strip. This would set the home position of the carousel at startup.	Tray Into Storage The tray would eventually dump a ball into the storage.	Flow Chart A flow chart was used to outline the logic of the programming for the robotic assembly
Finished Product The robot was a success and capable of sorting hundreds of balls with no accidental errors.

Gum Ball Sorting Robot

2015

Here we have a gumball sorting machine. Do you prefer red gumballs to blue gumballs? Well, then ladies and gentlemen, look no further. We have the device for you.

With less instincts than a newborn baby, this device is cleverly designed, with the newest in gumball sorting technology. It uses color sensors, worm gears, limit switches, and all kinds of other fascinating machinery to separate the colors for you.

Despite the handsome architecture, this machine is remarkably capable of sorting 100 gumballs with 0 mistakes.

This device is not yet on Kickstarter and a debut date is yet to be announced.

Chris Gravel | Mechatronics Engineering

Logical and Creative

Gum Ball Problem

We've got gum balls, but they are all mixed up

Gum Ball Container

A storage area for the gumballs is needed. This also was were we located the colour sensor.

Tilt Mechanism

The entire tray was tilted in order to move the gum balls back and forth so they would fall into the colour sensing area.

Worm Gear

The tray was pretty heavy so if the power was turned off when the tray was upright, it would fall back down undesirably. So we used a worm gear to move the tray.

Worm Gear View

The worm gear could be turned by our motor, but the mechanics of a worm gear don't allow the connected gear of the worm gear to spin the worm gear. It's like a one way force controller.

Sorted Gumball Storage

Of course a place is needed to store the sorted gumballs. Origami was used here, though I cannot take credit for that. Clever though.

Carousel Location Sensor

In order to know the position of the carousel, a sensor was used to detect a black line on a white strip. This would set the home position of the carousel at startup.

Tray Into Storage

The tray would eventually dump a ball into the storage.

Flow Chart

A flow chart was used to outline the logic of the programming for the robotic assembly

Finished Product

The robot was a success and capable of sorting hundreds of balls with no accidental errors.

Gum Ball Sorting Robot

2015