Tiny Sorter

A DIY experiment connecting Arduino + Teachable Machine

Build your sorter

Meet Tiny Sorter, a fun starter project that teaches you about machine learning and physical computing — together, in a hands-on DIY way.

A. Get the parts.

  • Printer
  • 8.5" x 11" paper (preferably cardstock)
  • Tape
  • Scissors
  • Ruler
  • Googley Eyes (MANDATORY)
  • Arduino Leonardo
  • Micro Servo (SG90)
  • Jumper Wires (Male to Male)

B. Print it Out

Download and print the assembly instructions on the printout or watch the video below for more details.

C. Put it all together

Download and Unzip the sketch Folder

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A. Get the arduino setup

Download and Unzip the sketch Folder

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B. Hook up the p5 sketch

To get the Arduino to interact with your browser, you’ll use something called a p5 sketch, which you can open in a new window here, then click connect. Your sorter will start to move!

Download and Unzip the sketch Folder

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Try it out!

See how well you've trained your model by dropping in cereal and seeing if it goes into the right bucket.

Open this website on your computer to try it out!

Expand this window to try out your sorter!

Align the tiny sorter with your webcam for good classification.

Angle your computer screen to make the ramp steeper or shallower.

Note: Above all, remember that the results of any machine learning model depend on the examples you give it. Trying different examples is a core part of exploring machine learning. So, if it's not working as you intended, play around with different approaches for what examples you provide.

Remix it!

Take all of this and make it your own

Tweak the design.

Play with the p5.js sketch code.

Make new models, sort new stuff.