Marble Sorter Project

By: Jacob Werner and Jennifer Donohue

Design Objective
The machine must sort 15 marbles, 5 of three kinds, under 2 minutes, by
the use of vex robotics and any other materials. The machine must also fit
on only two bases. The program must also have a switch to turn the
program on and off.
Additionally we wanted to make it more compact than the design brief
desires.

Design Ideas

Order of operations for our design

Must hold marbles from
being dumped in.

Metal marbles must then

be caught.

They then must be

confined one at a time
and spaced.

The remaining marbles

must be then caught and
sorted by use of the line
follower.

Metal marbles must then

be removed by weight by
the lever.

Wooden and plastic

marbles must then be
caught in their respective
cup.

Programing
Code

Final
Project
Trial run 1: 58 seconds, no errors
Trial run 2: 59 seconds, one error
Trial run 3: 57 seconds, no errors

Mistakes made
We both had an idea of having a magnet pick up the steel marbles. But
unfortunately we could not find/create a magnet that was strong
enough. In result we had to resort to the common lever mechanism.
Additionally we learned to use more reliable material than paper and
tape as they can move easy. To solve this challenge we redid our
sorting block with a better foam block and a mot sturdy system.

What did we learned from this?

From this project we have learn the importance of allowing time for
challenges in design and mechanical issues. Additionally we learned
the importance of reliability in a design.