Design, Prototype, and Testing of an Automated Candy Sorting Machine

This paper represents a sorting device for chocolate producers to upgrade them to an automated, fast, and cost-effective packaging process from a previous hand packing operation. Higher packaging rates of processes food can be achieved by improving sorting efficiency. The function of the proposed mechatronic system is to take candy pieces from a large central hopper and sort them, by color, into individual bins. The hopper can hold a full-size package of Skittles and the sorter can sort at a rate of up to 100 candy pieces per minute with an accuracy of 84%. With the reciprocal motion, the servo motor can turn through 360° to dispense one skittle to the identification system and return for another. The operation starts with the pocket at 0° to pick up one skittle, rotates 90° to present that skittle to the identification sensor, rotates another 90° to dispense it to the sorting system before rotating back 180° to its starting position. An image sensor is used to determine the color of the candy being presented. When the two data registers are connected and synced with the same clock signals, the 10-bit data from the image sensor reading the colors of the skittles can then be transmitted from the peripheral register to the controller register.