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Marble Sorter

Travis Malizia, Luis Laffitte

Principals of Engineering (POE)

Elise. P Buckingham Charter Magnet High

School

May 6, 2016

Table of Contents
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Brainstorming Ideas….3 - 7

Decision Matrix...7

Final Design Solution...8

Design Modifications...8

Final Design….9

Reflection...9 - 10

References...10

Brainstorming Ideas
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Decision Matrix

Our group discussed the possible solutions. Solution #1-3 seemed to be

overcomplicated or just difficult to execute. Solution #4 appeared to be potentially the

most efficient design. After experimenting with the equipment and using prior

knowledge, we agreed that Solution #4 would in fact work the best.

Final Design Solution

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Design Modifications

The modifications made were very much necessary. It had many problems. One large

problem that was solved was the size of our machine. The size of the chain was cut

down to less than half of what was originally intended. Doing this cut down the travel

time of the marbles and shortened the sorting process. We were also able to move the

rotating cup mechanism to be on one sheet of metal for the entire machine.

Final Design
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Reflection

My team feels that we were able to achieve most of the function of our machine well.

There were some key flaws, such as the marbles not correctly sorting consistently, but

with outside help this problem was resolved for the most part. One thing we would

change is the positioning of the cups to make it that there was less travel time for the

servo to move from one cup to the next. This would solve many problems with the

current mechanism. What my team learned was how to co-operate in a team more

efficiently as well as become more used to problem solving and persevering. Many

things that could potentially have gone wrong did and not all were fixable. Some issues

resolutions proved to be too far out of reach in order to complete them within the time
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given. However, the solutions are visible. Our team learned the importance of staying

on task and the importance of communication. When communication was not

completely done, processes would step in the way of others. This occurred rarely, but

should have been avoided. We believe the purpose of the project was to help increase

our experience with electronic equipment such as the vex gear we used, but also was

strongly meant to have team members learn how to work as an efficient and effective

team as well as how to persevere.

References

SURPRISE! You get code instead!

#pragma config(Sensor, in1, line, sensorLineFollower)

#pragma config(Motor, port1, flashlight, tmotorVexFlashlight, openLoop,

reversed)

#pragma config(Motor, port2, chain, tmotorVex393_MC29, openLoop)

#pragma config(Motor, port8, serv, tmotorServoStandard, openLoop)

//*!!Code automatically generated by 'ROBOTC' configuration wizard !!*//

void doCups(int pos)

motor[serv] = pos;

wait(0.5);

motor[chain] = 30;

wait(0.5);

}
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task main()

int glass_min = 2300;

int glass_max = 2700;

int wood_min = 100;

int wood_max = 200;

int plastic_min = 200;

int plastic_max = 500;

int metal_min = 1100;

int metal_max = 1500;

int glass = -127;

int wood = 0;

int plastic = 80;

int metal = 127;

motor[flashlight] = 127;

while(true)

motor[chain] = 30;

if(SensorValue[line] < 2700)

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wait(0.075);

motor[chain] = 0;

if(SensorValue[line] > wood_min && SensorValue[line] <

wood_max)

doCups(wood);

continue;

if(SensorValue[line] > plastic_min && SensorValue[line] <

plastic_max)

doCups(plastic);

continue;

if(SensorValue[line] > metal_min && SensorValue[line] <

metal_max)

doCups(metal);

continue;

}
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if(SensorValue[line] > glass_min && SensorValue[line] <

glass_max)

doCups(glass);

continue;