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About
Sort skittles by their respective color was the only prompt and assistance this project started with. Through a Raspberry Pi, Python, Solidworks, a laser cutter, and a 3D printer, a final skittle sorting device was created. The final device was able to sort skittles with over 90% accuracy and performed at relatively fast speeds.
Keywords
Raspberry Pi, Python, Solidworks, Laser Cutting, 3D Printing, Design
Description
This project was my introduction to a real engineering design project. I had just learned the basics of Solidworks, Python, soldering, laser cutting, and 3D printing. Then the final project was ‘simply’ designing a device to sort skittles automatically. The final design can be found below in pictures. Originally a stepper-controlled carousel was used to rotate the sorting cups and drop skittles into, but was changed last minute to a servo-controlled slide to significantly improve speed. To sort the skittles, an RGB sensor was used and tuned to match each skittles color. The slide would then rotate to a specific cup to match the color of the skittle read by the RGB sensor. The design itself had a bowl with a sloped slotted carousel piece. This allowed skittles to be pushed into each slot to be read by the RGB. As this was controlled by a stepper motor, each slot was spaced by exactly one step of the motor. To put skittles into each slot a laser cut box with a light was used to make a controlled RGB reading environment. The box served as a wedge to push skittles until they fell into the slots. Once in the slot, the skittle could pass through the box and sit on the RGB sensor. Once a prediction is made, the stepper makes one step, the slide rotates, and the skittle is sorted.