An example autonomous vehicle includes a body configured for movement along a surface and an end-effector to hold a first element having first and second features that mate to complementary third and fourth features on a second element. At least one of the end-effector or the body is controllable to move in at least four degrees of freedom. The autonomous device includes one or more sensors to detect the second element and to obtain information for locating the third and fourth features of the second element or other compatible device. The autonomous device also includes a control system to control at least one of the end-effector or the body to move in the at least four degrees of freedom to stack the first element on top of the second element.

An example autonomous vehicle includes a body configured for movement along a surface and an end-effector to hold a first element having first and second features that mate to complementary third and fourth features on a second element. At least one of the end-effector or the body is controllable to move in at least four degrees of freedom. The autonomous device includes one or more sensors to detect the second element and to obtain information for locating the third and fourth features of the second element or other compatible device. The autonomous device also includes a control system to control at least one of the end-effector or the body to move in the at least four degrees of freedom to stack the first element on top of the second element.

A roofing system including a cap shingle and a method of producing a cap shingle are disclosed. In one embodiment, the cap shingle is formed with a continuous or discontinuous self-sealing adhesive that is applied along a ridgeline direction and can provide high wind resistance, without the use of hand-sealed adhesive application. In an embodiment of the method, one or more layers of a shingle material can be oriented in a machine direction with the self-sealing adhesive applied adjacent side edges of the shingle material to form the cap shingles having self-seal strips and configured to bend in the machine direction for installation of the cap shingles along a ridge of a roof.

A method of forming bundles of glass articles is provided. The method includes transporting individual glass articles to an insert building station using a conveying system. The glass articles are individually located within article receiving slots of a layer separation insert using the conveying system. Each slot of the layer separation insert receives a single glass article forming a glass article layer of side-by-side glass articles. Multiple glass article layers including layer separation inserts are stacked using the conveying system forming a bundle. The layer separation inserts provide a barrier between adjacent glass articles of each of the glass article layers to inhibit glass-to-glass contact.

Systems and methods to manipulate stacks of silicon wafers and rings are described. In one aspect, a robotic actuator includes a robotic end effector that further a first surface having multiple attached wafer suction cups arranged to collectively grasp a silicon wafer. The robotic end effector also includes a second surface that further includes multiple attached ring suction cups arranged to collectively grasp a ring. The second surface also includes a bulk grabber positionable to grasp a collective stack of rings. The robotic actuator also includes an axial actuator configured to rotate the robotic end effector about a flip axis, such that either the first surface or the second surface faces vertically upwards.

A system and computer-implemented method for pallet management and constructing a pallet stack may include generating a virtual pallet stack using virtual packages having sizes and shapes corresponding with known available actual packages. In response to identifying an actual package to be placed on a pallet, an indication may be provided to a worker where the identified actual package is to be placed on the pallet stack based on the location of a corresponding virtual package on the virtual pallet stack.

A system and computer-implemented method for pallet management and constructing a pallet stack may include generating a virtual pallet stack using virtual packages having sizes and shapes corresponding with known available actual packages. In response to identifying an actual package to be placed on a pallet, an indication may be provided to a worker where the identified actual package is to be placed on the pallet stack based on the location of a corresponding virtual package on the virtual pallet stack.

An example autonomous vehicle includes a body configured for movement along a surface and an end-effector to hold a first element having first and second features that mate to complementary third and fourth features on a second element. At least one of the end-effector or the body is controllable to move in at least four degrees of freedom. The autonomous device includes one or more sensors to detect the second element and to obtain information for locating the third and fourth features of the second element or other compatible device. The autonomous device also includes a control system to control at least one of the end-effector or the body to move in the at least four degrees of freedom to stack the first element on top of the second element.

An example autonomous vehicle includes a body configured for movement along a surface and an end-effector to hold a first element having first and second features that mate to complementary third and fourth features on a second element. At least one of the end-effector or the body is controllable to move in at least four degrees of freedom. The autonomous device includes one or more sensors to detect the second element and to obtain information for locating the third and fourth features of the second element or other compatible device. The autonomous device also includes a control system to control at least one of the end-effector or the body to move in the at least four degrees of freedom to stack the first element on top of the second element.

The invention relates to a method for the picking and packing of goods (5) from at least one source storage installation (1) on at least one target load carrier (3) according to a packing layout. In order to achieve a particularly efficient method, it is provided according to the invention that a partial amount of the goods (5) that are to be positioned on the target load carrier (3) are arranged in a grouping region (2) according to a grouping (6) that corresponds to a part of the packing layout, after which the grouping (6) is moved from the grouping region (2) into a position on the target load carrier (3) that corresponds to the packing layout. Furthermore, the invention relates to a device for the picking and packing of goods (5) from at least one source storage installation (1) on at least one target load carrier (3) according to a packing layout.