Shep’s quad flexpicker packs 6 NXT microcontroller bricks, 22 motors and servos, and 26 sensors and muxes, and takes the form of four delta robots grabbing bricks from a conveyor. The grippers are pneumatic and are controlled via IR signals. So sweet!

This system uses four parallel robots which are fed using two conveyor belts. As items flow down the conveyor belt toward the robots, each item passes by a light/color sensor mounted on each conveyor belt. A signal is sent to the robots telling them information such as the color of the object, the belt the object is on and the position of the object on the belt. When each item gets close enough, the robot reaches out and grabs the item and moves it to a location based on the color of the item.

The cell is capable of picking and placing objects at a rate of 48 items per minute. Each robot can move 12 items per minute, or it can move an item in 5 seconds!