No Brown M&Ms? This Candy Sorting Machine Has You Covered

According to rock legend, Van Halen’s 1982 world tour rider included the condition that there be no brown M&Ms among the food provided to them. Though perhaps annoying for that unlucky (and hopefully clean-handed) roadie, if Willem Pennings’ candy sorting machine had been around then, this task could have simply been automated.

Pennings’ device uses two Arduino Nanos along with a pair of EasyDrivers and an RGB sensor to separate the little candies, read the color, and then shoot them into the proper bowl down below.

It can be modified to sort any type of colored object, as long as the individual pieces have a regular shape with even dimensions. It takes approximately 2–3 minutes to sort a 300 g bag of Skittles / M&Ms and sorts about 2 pieces per second. The machine is 250 mm in diameter and approximately 300 mm in height.

The sorter itself is beautifully crafted out of a painted wooden case and some 3D-printed parts, while a strip of LEDs give the machine a nice finishing touch.

As seen in the video below, it’s rather soothing to watch. Maybe the brown ones could be a tasty snack for any current day roadies given this task. On the other hand, Valentine’s Day is coming up, so it could be a good time to group the reds.

You can read more about the entire build here.