Real-time color-based sorting robotic arm system

Abstract

Sorting is a labor intense process. With machines that can recognize objects, it is possible to automate the sorting process. In this paper, we present a robotic sorting arm based on color recognition technique. In this system, when a new frame is captured by the camera, the object will be detected using color-base image processing technique. The position of the object in real-world will be calculated by its mass center in image. Using Inverse Kinematics algorithms, the control input for the robotic arm will be calculated and then sent to Arduino microcontroller. Then, the microcontroller will drive the motors on the robotic arm to sort and position the objects according to their color. Using the proposed technique, the sorting robotic arm system can distinguish and sort different objects successfully with properly tuned parameters for both machine vision and 3D mobility of the robotic arm.