A pill dispensing assembly for dispensing a pill from a pill bottle includes a first layer having a pill exit passage. A second layer is operatively connected to the first layer, and includes a pill entry passage horizontally offset from the exit passage. A pill dispensing layer is positioned between the first and second layers, is movable with respect to the first and second layers, and includes a holding chamber sized to receive the pill. The holding chamber is horizontally movable from a first loading position in which the holding chamber is aligned with the entry passage and is horizontally offset from the exit passage to receive the pill, to a second dispensing position in which the holding chamber is aligned with the exit passage and is horizontally offset from the entry passage to dispense the pill through the exit passage. Pill dispensing may be timed or time monitored.

A dispenser for dispensing a selectable quantity of absorbent sheet products is provided. The dispenser includes a container for containing a stack of absorbent sheet products, and an opening through which at least one absorbent sheet product is graspable. The opening includes a main portion in a first side of the container and at least one additional portion extending the main portion towards a second side of the container such that the, at least one, additional portion extends above and transversally relatively to the stack of absorbent sheet products contained in the container. The, at least one, additional portion defines multiple exposing zones along an axis (x) from one end of the main portion towards another end of the main portion. Each additional portion has a length from the axis (x) being associated with a maximum amount of absorbent sheet products graspable at the same time in a single seizure by a user.

A multi-stack pallet dispensing apparatus is for dispensing in-line pallet stacks relative to a pallet transporter. The multi-stack pallet dispensing apparatus includes a movable frame configured to movably hold, at least in part, in-line pallet stacks between a pallet-storage position and a pallet-dispensation position. The movable frame is also configured to hold the in-line pallet stacks relative to the pallet transporter. This is done in such a way that the pallet transporter is permitted to vertically lift, at least in part, the in-line pallet stacks as the movable frame is provided, at least in part, with vertical-lift assistance through stored potential energy.

Disclosed is a bead-apex storage system and a method for handling carriers, each carrier supporting a stack of bead-apexes stacked in a stacking direction and alternated with spacers separating the bead-apexes, wherein the bead-apex storage system includes a plurality of storage stations for storing the carriers and a transfer station for transferring one of the plurality of bead-apexes to a tire building machine, wherein the bead-apex storage system further includes a spacer gripper for lifting one or more of the spacers from one of the carriers in one of the plurality of storage stations and for carrying said one or more lifted spacers to the transfer station, wherein the bead-apex storage system includes a spacer gripper base for supporting the spacer gripper, wherein the spacer gripper base is movable from the transfer station to any one of the plurality of storage stations.

The invention relates to an automated cell (100) for handling containers in which rubber blocks are arranged. The cell includes: a frame that allows the fixed installation of the cell; an automatic centering system having a guiding means that allows precise positioning of a loaded container in a loading space (112) of the cell; a clamping system having a holding means that maintains the positioning of the loaded container in the loading space of the cell; and a locking system having a locking means that maintains the positioning of the container in the loading space of the cell.

An object of the present invention is to develop a device and a method by which cargo handling is automatically performed to eliminate overlaps among articles. When loaded with a plurality of articles M, a cargo handling device eliminates overlaps among the articles M. The cargo handling device has an article placement surface on which the articles M are placed. The cargo handling device performs a cargo handling operation that turns and/or rotates the articles M on the article placement surface to eliminate the overlaps among the articles M.

A level compensator system may be configured to receive containers of different heights and position them at the same level. The level compensator system can include engagement platforms for engaging with the containers. The engagement platforms can move between an engagement configuration for engaging with the containers and a conveyance configuration for conveying of the containers relative to the level compensator.

A transport device has a position detection portion, a holding portion attached to an arm, a driving portion to drive the holding portion and the arm, and a control portion. A control portion controls the position detection portion and the driving portion to perform, as one cycle, a procedure to detect a position of a parcel, select parcels based on a predetermined condition, and set priority for the selected parcels, and a procedure to refer to a result of the detection, and cause the holding portion to take out one or more parcels from the accumulation portion in accordance with the priority to transport the parcels to a predetermined location, and excludes, from parcels to be taken out, a second parcel that is present within a predetermined distance from a first parcel and has priority lower than the priority of the first parcel, during the one cycle.

A transport device has a position detection portion, a holding portion attached to an arm, a driving portion to drive the holding portion and the arm, and a control portion. A control portion controls the position detection portion and the driving portion to perform, as one cycle, a procedure to detect a position of a parcel, select parcels based on a predetermined condition, and set priority for the selected parcels, and a procedure to refer to a result of the detection, and cause the holding portion to take out one or more parcels from the accumulation portion in accordance with the priority to transport the parcels to a predetermined location, and excludes, from parcels to be taken out, a second parcel that is present within a predetermined distance from a first parcel and has priority lower than the priority of the first parcel, during the one cycle.

A retrieval controller is disclosed for identifying an item to be retrieved from a flat storage surface by a robot for identifying one item, amongst items stored on a common surface that can be retrieved by a robot equipped with a lateral-motion gripper. The retrieval controller includes: a depth map computing unit configured to establish a global coordinate system, and establish an orthonormal set of basis vectors u, v and w defined in the global coordinate system, where w is approximately orthogonal to the surface that the items are stored on; a vector determination unit; an item selection unit; and a robot instructing unit configured to instruct the robot to retrieve the item based on uv coordinates of one or more w-aligned edges having associated quadrilateral-based, right prisms which do not have interiors that intersect any right, enclosing prisms selected by the item selection unit.