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High Speed DIY M&M Sorting Machine Uses iPhone Brain
HughPickens.com writes: Canoe Tech reports that M&M sorting machines are a popular project for people who like combining electronics, programming and machine building. Most of them send a single M&M down a chute to a simple color sensor where the color sensor will then take a second or two to figure out the color. A servo motor will then rotate a chute that will direct the M&M into the correct pot. But a new project created by the nameless blogger behind the reviewmylife blog that uses an iPhone 5s as its brain is capable of sensing different colors and so can "sort" the M&Ms as they fall past. The iPhone communicates the information via Bluetooth to an Arduino board, which in turn fires off the correct electro magnet controlled gate. One practical application of the sorter could be creating a bowl of M&Ms — with all the brown ones removed.
I must be getting old. I did this in college 20+ years ago in my process automation course. I assure you that color-sorting photocells don't take a second or two to figure out the color.
It was all done with standard industrial stuff on Allen Bradley PLCs.
People do this for a hobby? I don't get it.
I hate to be a spoil sport but I have a copy of their rider.
While their stated intention is true (well at least that they stated it) but the details are quite wrong. The M&M caveat was included in the Backstage Rider which is generally handled by hospitality staff (for such a large production at least). It is not "buried in countless technical specifications" as this article suggests. The terms are also not quite so stated: "M&M's (WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES)." This being in a rider whose overriding terms stating that the contract "...may be voided by (Van Halen) unless fully executed..." the surrounding forfeiture of the show may occur but not with full payment (only possible forfeit of paid deposits, expenditures).
Mr. Roth may have had good intentions when he had that written into their rider BUT his prima donna nature was showing in his lack of understanding of how the show was actually being executed. Specifically those responsible for procuring and maintaining backstage hospitality have absolutely *nothing to do with anything technical what-so-ever and so correlating a brown M&M to an issue with the production was misguided more likely incidental.