This demonstrator has been made out of several mechatronic devices at the Vienna University of Technology - Automation and Control Institute (ACIN). According to the figure below these parts belonging together logically are grouped as devices whereby each is equipped with a separate microcontroller. All four devices are shaded in different colors as shown in the figure.

Each device performs its tasks autonomously from all other devices, coordinating only at the interfaces and sending messages over a common standard Ethernet link. The separator is equipped with two light barriers for sensing the presence of bottles. The pneumatically driven actuator is used to hold back bottles. Only one bottle is allowed to be between the separator and the next device, the high-speed pick and place unit (HSPP). If the bottle is taken away by the HSPP, the next bottle is allowed to enter this area. The task of the HSPP, equipped with a pivot arm and a gripper, is to transport bottle from the first to the second conveyor belt. The forth unit is the sorter, equipped with a conveyor belt, a 3 channel color sensor (in this applica-tion only two channels are used) and 2 turnouts. Bottles put on the conveyor belt are scanned by the color sensor. Dependent on the recognized color, the bottle is taken off the belt by one of the two turnouts. For this application, two different kinds of microcontrollers were used (Digi ConntectME & Beck IPC@Chip) equipped with the FORTE.