Marble Sorter

Jake Hebert
Teammates: Nick Maughan, Christian Smith
Principles of Engineering
Westwood High School
3/29/2016

Design Problem
We were tasked to create an automatic recycling machine for the National
Recreation Park Association. We have to create a mechanism that will sort sixteen
marbles of four different varieties. The four varieties include: magnetic, aluminum,
wooden, and opaque plastic. There is an opportunity for bonus points if we are also
able to sort a fifth type of marble that is clear plastic.
With this task, there were several constraints that had to be addressed. The
machine needs to be completely automated and only use materials from the VEX

kit. The sixteen commingled marbles we are given will be sorted into four different
bins. The entire sorting process must be done in under two minutes.

Brainstorm Idea
The marbles are placed into the opening chute, which is the right size to
have the marbles lined up single file. The lined up marbles stop in front of the line
follower. The solenoid in the beginning of the test is used to make sure only one
marble gets tested by the line follower.
The line follower knows the value of the dark wood and if it sees this value,
the motor begins spinning. The wheel attached to the axle and the motor knocks
the marble into the cup.
If the line follower sees the value assigned to the plastic, the motor spins in
the opposite direction. This knocks the plastic into the opposite cup of the wood.
If the line follower does not see either the wood or plastic, the solenoid that
the test marble is resting on will retract. This causes the marble to fall down onto
the tank track. The tank tack moves forward every 2 seconds. When the magnetic
marble is in front of the electromagnet, the electromagnet will pull the marble off
the track. The electromagnet will then shut off, allowing the marble to fall into a
cup below.

If the marble has not been pulled off the track, our machine knows that the
marble is made of aluminum. At the end of the line, the marble will fall off the

track into a cup.

Decision Matrix
Name

Complexity

Construction Code
Success Time to
Total
Difficulty
Complexity Outlook Complete

Jake

14

Nick

11

Christian

11

2 3 4

Worst

Best

Most

Least

My group created a decision matrix based on a set of five criteria:

Complexity, Construction difficulty, Code complexity, Success Outlook, and Time
to complete. We chose these topics because we believed they would have the
biggest impact on our solutions success. We then had a meeting to determine
scores for each design under each category. We lobbied for ideas, and eventually
agreed on a single score for each criteria. Afterwards, we added up the scores to
find the total of each design. Upon this summation, we found that my design had
the highest score. We agreed that these results were fair and my design would the
one to be constructed and programmed.

Final Proposal
After finishing the decision matrix, we decided to go with my proposed
solution. To reiterate, my solution will only sort the wood, white plastic,
aluminum, and steel marbles.
The machine will feature a track with a funnel at the beginning where the
marbles will be loaded in. The marbles will roll down single file until they come to
the solenoid which acts as a gate mechanism. The solenoid will raise in left in short
increments to allow the marbles to go the first test.
A line follower is placed at the end of the track. It is there to detect what the
marbles are. If they are wood, the line follower will see this with a pre-coded value

that we have determined. A wheel will then spin, knocking the wood marble into a
cup.
If the line follower sees the plastic marble, it will spin the wheel at a fast
velocity to knock the plastic marble into a different cup.
If the line follower does not see the values for plastic or wood, the wheel
will spin slowly and knock the steel or aluminum marble onto a tank track. The
tank track will creep forward every two seconds.
Half the length down the tank track, a magnet is waiting to pull off the
magnetic steel marbles. The steel marbles will fall off the track into another cup.
If the steel, wood, and plastic marbles are not detected, the system will know
that the remaining marble is the aluminum marble. In this case, the tank track will
keep going forward until the marble falls off the track into an awaiting cup.

Design Modifications
The biggest design modification was removing the solenoid that the marbles
were originally going to rest upon. We replaced this solenoid with a metal platform
with screws to act as a sort of track that the marbles could follow along. We also
attached the line follower to the platform so that the sensor was as close as possible
to the marble. In order to get the marble throughout the system, we had to make the
platform turn. To accomplish this, we attached a servo up to the structure which

the platform was taped to. Now, the platform could rotate depending on where we
needed it to go.
The second biggest change was the gate mechanism. We believed the servo
in the original design would not be quick enough to make the marbles go one by
one. We added a rubber gear to slowly spin and allow one marble to roll onto the
platform to be read by the line follower.
We removed the wheel from the original design that would have knocked the
marbles back and forth to the desired cups. We figured out that this was an
impractical idea that would have been too difficult to perfect. So instead of having
to deal with this, we simply did not put it on and instead relied on the see-saw
platform to guide the marbles. This new system worked much more effectively.
Since the wheel would not have been able to knock the marbles in different
directions, we needed the tank track to be able to sort three different types of
marbles. To accomplish sorting the aluminum marble, we simply made the tank
track spin backwards. The line follower would detect if the marble was aluminum
and rotate to drop the aluminum marble onto the spinning track. In testing, this
system worked almost every time with success. However, we found it difficult to
get this system to work when we had multiple marbles in the machine at one time.
If the line follower saw that the marble was wood, it simply rotated the
opposite direction to drop the marble into a cup. This was a small simple change

that greatly reduced any stress and effectively allowed the marble to be sorted. The
only difficulty we found was that the line follower had difficulty seeing the wood
quickly enough before another marble would be sent onto the platform.
The remaining two marbles would be sent onto the tank track and sent in a
direction opposite the aluminum marble. The steel and white plastic marble then
rode the track and were dropped down onto a metal path. This piece of metal
replaced the original idea of cup being at the end of the track to catch the final
marble. We also removed the electromagnet because figured out it would not be
strong enough to pull the steel marble. Now, the steel and plastic marbles rolled
down the metal track. At the end of the track, we added a permanent magnet. The
hope was that the steel marble would roll down and then be attracted to the
magnet, wrapping around the corner and falling into a cup. After a few tests and
adjustments, we got this system to work perfectly.

Final Design

Shown above are two images of our final product for the marble sorter
project. The machine functioned very poorly in the final presentation. It sorted two
aluminum marbles correctly and also two steel marbles correctly. Only eight
marbles out of the sixteen were able to make it through the entire machine
although four of them were sorted correctly. This process took under two minutes
which is one of the only things done well by our machine.

ROBOTC Program

Above is the full code written by Christian Smith for our marble sorter system.

Design Process
To start off this project, we had to complete the first step of the design
process which is defining the problem. My group made sure to carefully read over
all of the specifications and constraints that the sorter needed to be within. We then
wrote a design brief individually for this report.
The second step of the design process is to generate concepts. Individually,
we brainstormed our own ideas for how the marble sorter should be constructed.
We looked at the different types of marbles and thought about how each one could
be sorted. Once we all had our own concepts, we came together to create a decision
matrix and determine whose idea would be used for the project.
The third step of the design process is to develop a solution. We used the
decision matrix from the previous step and found that my concept would be our
final product. We each created a technical sketch of my concept and justified the
solution choice in our individual reports.
The fourth step of the design process is constructing and testing a prototype.
This was the lengthiest step of our process. In this step, we created the hardware
and software portions of our system at the same time. There was a lot of testing

done to see where each problem was. It felt as if when one problem was solved,
another problem arose somewhere else in the system.
After creating a prototype, we had to evaluate our solution. We could no
longer perform any tests, and could only optimize the marble sorter. We made a
few tweaks with the hardware and double checked the values in the code to make
sure they were all accurate.
When we were happy with the solution, it came time to present our solution.
We gave an informal presentation to the class and stated what our machine was
supposed to do and what it actually does.

Reflection
What would your team do differently with your design solution and why?
My team would have changed the gate mechanism to find a way to get one
marble to roll onto the testing platform at a time. With the mechanism we had, two
marbles were sometimes sent onto the platform and accurate readings could not be
determined.
What the most challenging aspect of this design problem?
The most challenging aspect of this design problem was getting multiple
marbles through the system at the same time. We found that our marble sorter was
easily able to sort the marbles when we had sent them through one at a time.
However, when we put more than four marbles into the machine, the gate

mechanism would not always send just one marble to the testing platform. Even
after testing, we were not able to solve this problem.
What did you learn?
The obvious answer would be that the gate mechanism we used was a
complete failure. In addition, we learned how the design process can be utilized to
effectively work on a project. I learned how crucial it can be to come in before
school to work on a project when we are not in class. If we had not gone in outside
of class hours, we would not have gotten as close as we did.
What were some of the challenges of working in a design team?
The most difficult part of working in a design team were the clash of ideas.
When it came to modifying our hardware solution, we sometimes came to a
stalemate on how to effectively come to a new solution. Another challenge was
keeping the motivation high. As the deadline approached, some members were
getting disheartened. We needed to make sure to remember that it was just a school
project that many people did not find success in.