Hi, I am currently working on a project that will involve differentiating between two different sized products and packaging them according to an inputted order (model scaled). I am currently planning on randomly manually placing the products on a conveyer belt where they will be differentiated by height through two photo eye sensors. After, they will be pushed by a mechanism (most likely some sort of push pull solenoid) down one of two downward slanted tracks which will have a barrier drop down on each to let in the amount of product needed in the order. At the end of the drop down will be a second conveyer belt that will have preplaced packaging lined up and will move along the belt from the first drop down to the second, using gravity to have the products fill the packaging. I am planning to have one product be about the size of a dice and the other two dice stacked on top of each other. I am currently struggling to figure out the feasibility and where I could order the parts needed at such a small scale. Any recommendations would be largely helpful. Thanks!
Any tracking involved to do this?
Are you looking for hobbyist parts or real industrial quality stuff ($$)?
I am currently an industrial technology and packaging student trying to add to my projects resume through a working model, while keeping the budget roughly under $500. For the push and detection mechanisms I was thinking I would use some sort of laser detection with two sensors at different heights for the heights of both products. Then, I would measure the timing of each product and when one of the two pushers should activate to push it off of the belt at the right time to fall onto the correct track based off which sensors were activated.
I take this as "hobby parts and code are good enough for proof of concept."
Have you looked at "color sorting" examples? These usually involve using a motor to load the object, a color detector, the same motor to position the object, then a second motor to move the object to the correct bin. Use your sensor as the input for "color."
It sounds pretty straightforward. The barrier could be operated by a servo and depending on how fast the conveyor is running, you could use either a distance sensor from above to measure object height, or two focused IR break-beam sensors to detect from the side which object type has passed.
Everything described so far sounds totally feasible.
What scale/size? What parts?
You have given NO specific requirements for any of your components, so start with figuring out that part. Make a good design drawing of what you want, look for parts that would work, adapt your design around those parts, maybe make some custom parts (3D printed, laser cut), and start building.
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