Color Sensor-Based Object Sorting Robotic Arm

Abstract

In this contribution, it presents a mechatronics application for automatic color recognition and sorting process performed by the robotic arm. Color sorting is the phenomenon for sorting and analyzing different colors of an object and thereby picking and placing the objects at its desired location, thus enhancing efficiency and minimizing human errors in performing a certain task. The present work discusses the design and development of 3-degree-of-freedom (3-DOF) robotic arm. The system consists of two DC gear motors in order to move the robot in any desired location and four servo motors to control the movement of joints of robotic arm. It includes three joints, an end effector, two rectangular links and a rectangular platform. The type of controller used is Arduino Uno microcontroller which is further interfaced with PIR sensor, color sensor TCS3200 and four servo motors to control the direction of robotic arm. The robotic arms are widely used in industries, but most of them are programmed to follow a previously learned trajectory. Very few robots are able to make real-time decisions, and so they may not be considered smart systems. One example of the smart robotic arm is provided by a device which can sort some objects taking advantage of the information contained in tags glued on the basis of the same objects. These systems can be used in several applications for protecting the environments aimed to automatize the processes of waste stocking and disposal simply differentiating the tag information.