A Lego Brick Sorter Competition!

[Phoxtane]

First, a bit of history. About two months ago, I started sorting all my Lego into bags to allow me to find certain parts better. Needless to say, that project never got finished. I\'ve just now started getting back into, and quite frankly, it\'s boring.

Thus, I have decided to create this 'competition' to see who can help me produce the best brick sorter. I\'d like to base it off the one shown in this video:

Unfortunately, I do not have access to a cheap webcam. My parents do have iPhones, which I might be able to use for the image recognition.

Thus, I call upon you! Astound me with your ability to create!

Requirements for the sorter:

-Must be able to sort bricks by general type, not just color. This is the tricky one; image recognition will be hard to accomplish with just an iPhone that I probably won\'t be able to modify at all.

-Must be based off one Mindstorms NXT kit; I do not have access to hobby servos or multiple NXTs.

-As little parts required to build as possible, preferably Technic pieces.

-All components must be Lego, except for a camera mount.

Unfortunately, I can\'t offer you anything for winning this competition, except bragging rights and a YouTube video with the brick sorter in it.

Good luck, and may the best builder win!

[Grove]

MOTHER OF LEGO\'s

How much sets have you bought?

[Johno]

Man, that\'s one video I won\'t be able to keep my eyes off . . .

[Ydoow]

I need to learn to program :l

I want to build this so bad.

[Phoxtane]

The only difficult part of this project would be work out the image recognition software. The person who built the robot in the video is using a parts database he set up for this specific project. From what I can tell, it\'s able to tell what kind of brick is in the sorting tray by its size and shape. He\'s also got a scale set up underneath the sorting area to weigh the brick, and LEDs to 'flatten' the background for better images.

I think we can bypass the issue of a webcam by setting up a point-and-shoot digital camera to take the pictures with. We can then run a wired connection from that camera to the computer, where the actual image processing is done.

[Rocketscienist]

It works. wow. LEGO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8)