Brick Sorter 1

Brick sorters are among "classical" Mindstorms projects. According to this tradition, Brick Sorter 1 was my first creation after I got through Constructopedia. As I found sorting bricks challenging, I went on with Brick Sorter 2...

 

	2x2 bricks are stacked on their side in the yellow magazine. The flimsy but effective axle assembly regularly injects bricks. It is powered by the same motor as the conveyor belt.
	The brick is carried to the detector (shown here with light protecting cover removed). There it first interrupts the beam between a light brick and a light sensor (this allows precise positionning of both dark and bright bricks). The LED brick is then shut off and light sensor measures light reflected by the brick. This setup enables the discrimination of only three brick brightness levels, I used white, grey and black.
	The brick then arrives to a rotating ejector. Depending on color, the ejector lets it go on or pushes it to the left or to the right. A touch sensor on top measures rotor position.
	The three output bins.
	Short animation showing brick transfer (Java animator9)
	Another animation, the rotor sorts bricks.