http://beta.ivc.no/wiki/index.php/Skittles_M%26M%27s_Sorting_Machine So this is for m&m and skittles but I'm wondering if it work for perler beads? I understand the programming would need tweaked! Wondering if the tubes would. We'd changed also for the beads. I have one one of the 22 thousand beads I bought and it's just to time consuming to do manually and I don't want to buy the individual bags for several reasons. I really would like to do a sorting robot fo my own benefits and it be fun to learns how to do. I've never done anything like this and I don't have a 3D printer so would need help with parts there. Any suggestions if the s will work as is or how much it would need changed?
Getting started
The core of the device is a color sensor, so if you have never done robotics before, you’ll need to learn some programming and electronics. Arduino microcontrollers are a good place to start. Once the sensor has determined the color, you would need an actuator to move it (i.e. “sort”). Rather than trying to reproduce what someone else has done, you may actually base a bit of your concept off it, but from then on, it’s learning learning learning, testing testing testing and making changes.
Ex: https://www.robotshop.com/en/dfrobot-color-sensor-tcs3200.html
A 3D printer is nice, but not necessary. You’d be surprised how much you can do with thin wood, thick cardboard, durable foam board etc. You don’t need any special tools for this.
Hi
The main problem I see is that those perler beads are very small and light so it will be very difficult to get them aligned and “scan” the color individually. So you should try around a litte bit how you can get them scanned one by the time.
Very Interesting
I have some ideas for this and while most prefer to use Arduino’s I prefer to use Single Board PC’s like the LattePanda or boards from Windows 8.1 Tablets.
1) After looking at the colors that the beads come in I am glad to see that they are each bead is a solid color and not a mulit-color. This will make color detection fairly easy.
2) Just a CBenson said you will need to detect the color and then based on the color have it actuate a servo to a specific position where that color is being stored.
3) Color Detection, not sure what you plan on using in regards to hardware, but if you go with a x86 system there are several examples of source code out there that would get you started in C# or VB.NET. If you do go this way and need help I can most certainly help there.
4) So now lets say you have detected the color you next step is to move a servo to a specific location. You can get a Servo Controller board that is just for servos or you can use an Arduino and with some creative coding make it do what you need.
Looks like this could be a fun project.
Keep us up to date and if you decide to go the X86 route feel free to contact me via a PM or on the shout box.
Welcome to LMR! I think
Welcome to LMR!
I think this is a great goal to move towards. If you haven’t done anything like this before, it might be pretty daunting unless you followed directions and used someone else’s plan. Building things that do stuff is awesome though so worth the pain of learning all this.
Folks can help you here as you run into issues. Arduino is a good processor with an incredible online support, tutorials, examples etc. If you need things 3d printed, there are places that will do the printing for you and send you the parts if you have the files for them (pololu.com is one). Google is your friend. The stuff that is available online is amazing and the prices for robotics oriented things seem to go down all the time.
Places to buy parts that I recommend are:
www.robotshop.com -benefactors for LMR! Great to work with and free shipping over $75. Been happy with everything I bought through them.
adafruit.com-incredible tutorials-neat parts, great support forum as well.
sparkfun.com-
servocity.com-sell a whole liine of gadgets for robotics-I call it engineer porn. Amazing stuff, amazing amount of money they have gotten out of me over the past few years.
pololu.com-I like their motors. Sell some inventive gadgets
I hope to see you around a lot more. Good luck with your project.
Regards,
Bill
Thanks for all replys
Just wanted thank everyone for all the replys.