3.1. Feeding unit: Separation and transport of the objects.
Raw material coming from the extracting machine travelled on a single 250 mm-wide conveyor belt, and then dropped down onto a vibrating, tilted plate. The inclination of the plate and its vibrating movement made the material move forward and disaggregate as it reached the end of the plate. In the following step, it was split into six 30 mm wide conveyor belts that moved at a relatively higher speed (0.75–1.25 m/s). This action produced an individual separation of the different objects that made up the raw input. This step was crucial for subsequent processes, since it allowed the system to use simple image analysis techniques and to expel each object into its corresponding outlet.
The narrow size of the belts prevented large accumulations of material and facilitated the separation of the objects.