Delta Robot Sorts Golf Balls by Color

When we first spotted Anthony “Proto G” Garofalo’s delta robot, it was impressive to see how it could move an end effector around in space with three coordinated NEMA 34 steppers. Now, however, this robot can not only move an end effector around, but it can even analyze and sort colored golf balls arranged on a plate at its base.

The system uses a Pixy2 vision sensor for color analysis, while the robot is controlled via an ESP32 dev board, along with a smartphone interface. As shown around 2:00 in the video below, Garofalo scrambles the fist row of balls on the table. After activating it with his smartphone, the bot obediently rearranges everything into a red-red-green-green-blue-blue pattern, followed by a celebratory dance. This is done using a bubble sort algorithm, where each color is assigned a number, and swaps a ball with its neighbor if it’s out of order. Although not the most efficient algorithm, it is effective, and certainly makes a for an interesting mechatronics display.

Physically picking the balls up is handled with a vacuum gripper, along with a tool meant to pick these orbs up on an actual golf course that keeps them from flopping around too much at high speeds. A cover for the bottom was also added, as well as vibration dampers to cut down on noise in this iteration. After six months of work, this robot looks nearly ready for display, and it will be exciting to see what’s in store for it in the future!