PDR- IDP GRP

6
Lucas Carpenter, Ben Adams,
Ashley Teofilo, Ben Murphy, Jess
Visaya, Jack Cloward, Calypso
Gutierrez
Need Identified – Jack
Cloward
Stakeholder:
Companies are searching for a machine that can
sort spherical objects based on weight or size.
Design Problem:
• Design, build, test, and revise a purely
mechanical machine to remotely separate a
number of standard sized golf and Ping-Pong Requirements:
balls • 100% Mechanical
• Machine must be human operated • Must be human operated only
• Unsorted balls and empty bins are placed next to one another on
• Balls will be organized into two separate six- one side of an operating line
quart bins • Only the machine may cross the operating line
• Machine will be evaluated based on two criteria: • Unsorted balls, empty bins, and the machine will be placed on a
1. Number of golf and Ping-Pong balls separated and surface 29''-30'' above ground
sorted in two-minutes • Only approved parts and materials may be used during fabrication
2. Overall cost of the mechanism calculated based • Any liquid used during operation must be contained within the
on the parts and materials used during fabrication
machine only
• Machine must be fixed to the operating surface
• Machine must not damage the balls
 Background Research –
Jess Visaya
Marketed Companies - Amp Robotics: Sorting
recyclables.

• Using AI and a mechanical arm this robot detects and

removes single use plastics, recyclables, and general trash

• Its real-time reaction based so it moves as it detects

• Like our project, this mechanism can be taken into

reference to sort out golf balls from ping pong balls.

• Potential Competition – Other groups: More

innovative/Affordable designs
• Our main goals for this project is to keep everything
efficient and cost –manageable

• The designs we choose will be important

 Project Attributes
1. Functions 4. Constraints
o Retrieve ping bong balls and golf balls from one bin and o Time
separate them into two other bins. o Cost
2. Requirements o Mechanical components only
o Human operated o No damage to the balls
o Retrieve and relocate o Machine boundaries
o Separate golf balls and ping pong balls 5. Objectives
3. Limits o Durable
o 2 min o Fast
o No electrical components o Efficient
o Cost limit
o Operator cannot cross the line 6. Metrics
o Materials list o Golf ball size: 1.680in (42.67mm), 1.62oz (45.93g)
o Ping pong ball: 40mm, 2.7g
o Box: Outside Dimensions: 13 5/8" x 8 1/4" x 4
7/8", Interior Dimensions at bottom: 11 1/4" x 6
1/8" x 4 1/4", Weight: .5lb
Considered Concepts
1. Size
o Create tightly toleranced
holes for each ball type
(size difference of 2.67mm)
2. Gravity
o Use of rubber bands to 3. Water
distribute weight o Netting to catch Golf balls
o Scooping mechanism to swipe
floating ping pong balls
4. Manual
o Machine will be completely
moved and separated by
operator interaction
Details of Chosen Concepts
Lifting/Dumping Mechanism Sorting Mechanism
o Sorting by size
o Marble size sorting
machine (youtube.com)

o Sorting by weight
Selection Rational
• We chose to sort by weight because we deemed it to be the best overall
candidate across the following 5 categories.
Sorting Size Weight Water Manual
Characteristics:
Speed 3 2 2.5 2

Affordability 3 4 2 1

Build Difficulty 3 3.5 3 1

Accuracy 4 4 4 4

Repeatability 4 4 4 4

Totals: 17 17.5 15.5 12

Phase 2 Plans

Test Sorting Concepts

Start Prototyping

CDR