// TinkerBot

// Objective: Creating a tailored end effector and system that categorizes tiles based on their colour and organizes them according to a desired artwork
// workflow: A pile of stacked, different colored tiles with known x,y coordinates was approached to detect stack height using an ultrasonic sensor. The estimated tile position was calculated based on the returned distance. A photo was taken at this position, and the center color was sampled. This color was compared to the predefined colors of the desired artwork. A path was generated for the tile's location and matched tile. Finally, the tile was picked up by a pneumatic gripper and placed at the target position.
// Dataflow: To set up the hardware, the vacuum pump and ultrasonic sensor were connected to two separate Arduinos, interfaced with Grasshopper via Firefly to prevent port conflicts. The camera was directly connected to the computer and streamed through Firefly. All sensors and actuators used USB connections. The path was generated in Grasshopper and sent to the robotic arm via the KukaVarProxy plugin, centralizing and coordinating all information. 

#Smart robots #Material manipulator #RobotArtist #Tile Artist