Protein Bar Guillotine

Background

My uncle was building a new machine to chop nutrition bars for his food factory and enlisted me to research, design, and implement the electrical and software systems. He wanted the machine to track conveyor belt speed, precisely control a gantry with a pneumatic guillotine blade, and include an intuitive touchscreen interface to operate the system, adjust parameters, and view statistics.

Build

I first developed the state-machine-based motion-control logic that reads data from a high-resolution optical encoder and uses a stepper driver to synchronize the linear belt actuator with the conveyor. I then implemented limit switches, a pushbutton panel for operator input, and a relay-driven light tower for status and fault indication. Finally, I designed and programmed a custom graphical user interface, including the complete UI flow. The interface displays real-time statistics, supports multiple operating modes, allows parameter adjustments via an on-screen numpad with validation, and enables jogging and preset selection from SD card storage.

Result

A machine that chops bars to the exact specified length, regardless of conveyor-speed fluctuations, while remaining highly configurable and easy to operate.