Color Sorter

bottom shelf, arduino/brain of device
middle shelf. slide pivots and directs m&m to cup
Top shelf, moves individual m&ms and senses what colour it is.

Inspiration inspiration

We were standing in line eating trail mix and found ourselves spending lots of time manually sorting the m&m's by color (because obviously everyone has a favorite color). We decided to build a product that would do that work for us and sort the colors.

What it does

This device allows users to empty m&m's or skittles in the funnel and results in the colors being organized by color.

How we built it

We built this device using a RGB color sensor, two servo motors, and an arduino motor control. We created the structure using recycled cardboard because our team believes in the importance of sustainability!

Challenges we ran into

None of us were very experienced working with Arduino so setting up and learning to use libraries was an initial hurdle. Initially we were going to go with another design but due to limited resources (only securing two motors) we had to change designs. Another big hurdle we came across was the lack of study build materials and seemingly inconsistent behavior from certain components.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Despite not having finished, we built the form of the device and got individual components. Ultimate integration did not end up happening. However, for all of our first hackathon experiences we are proud of the small accomplishments we were able to pull off.

What we learned

We learned that planning is crucial, and experience and asking for help is huge.

What's next for Color Sorter

Next steps for the Color Sensor would be redesigning the body with more sturdy material (not carboard) and doing more testing of specific control of the servo motors. We would also hope to use more consistent motors that aligns with the code instead of defaulting to random angles.