In one embodiment, the present disclosure includes an automated food production kiosk. Embodiments of a kiosk may comprise a robotic system having a reach. A plurality of food ingredient dispensers may be configured around the robotic system. Each dispenser may have a physical interface within a reach of the robotic system to receive an item. One or more physical processing units have a physical interface within the reach of the robotic system to receive the item. The kiosk may prepare food items under control of a local server, a cloud server, or both, for example.

An article dispensing system and method that has a first and a second vibratory feeder; a rotary trough dispenser having one or more receiving troughs in which counted or weighed articles are dispensed for packaging; while the next trough within the rotary trough dispenser is indexed in a rotational step-wise fashion.

A weighing apparatus for weighing batches of food product is provided. The weighing apparatus comprises a product supply unit arranged to supply food product to be weighed, a weighing unit arranged to receive and weigh a batch of food product, and a product delivery unit arranged to receive the food product from the product supply unit and to deliver a batch of food product to the weighing unit. The product delivery unit comprises a trough extending between a product supply position, at which food product is received from the product supply unit, and a product delivery position, at which the food product is delivered for receipt in the weighing unit, and a transport screw arranged in the trough and configured to rotate in the trough for conveying food product from the product supply position to the product delivery position. The transport screw comprises at least two helical members. A primary helical member extends along a length of the trough substantially from the product supply position to the product delivery position. A secondary helical member extends along a length of the trough substantially from the product supply position to a termination position of the secondary helical member, the termination position of the secondary helical member being between the product supply position and the product delivery position.

A weighing system for weighing particulate material such as powders, granules and the like, and particularly particulate foodstuffs. The system includes: a weighing device (9); a vibrator unit (11); a transfer receptacle (7) having an opening; a robotic arm (5) arranged to move the transfer receptacle (7); and a control system (13) arranged to control the robotic arm (5) and the vibrator unit (11); wherein the transfer receptacle (7) is arranged to receive a quantity of the particulate material through the opening; the control system (13) is arranged to actuate the robotic arm (5) to move the transfer receptacle adjacent the weighing device (9), and to actuate the vibrator unit (11) to vibrate the transfer receptacle (7) thereby causing particulate material located in the transfer receptacle (7) to dispense from the transfer receptacle onto the weighing device (9).

In one embodiment, the present disclosure includes an automated delivery system apparatus comprising a mechanical guide, a movable unit coupled to the guide on a first surface, and an engaging unit configured to couple to a second surface separated from the first surface by a thickness. The engaging unit is configured to engage an item on the second surface. A magnetic binding force between the movable unit and engaging unit moves the engaging unit along a path corresponding to a path of the movable unit. The engaging unit moves an item along a least a portion of the path.

A dosing device for the continuous, gravimetric dosing of pourable material particularly rough fuels, wherein a flow of material Is conveyed from a charging opening to an emptying opening in a housing with a rotor which is driven about a vertical rotation axis, while determining the instantaneous load over a measuring section, and with a force measuring device which detects the instantaneous toad of the flow of material guided via the rotor comprising a plurality of ribs and a peripheral ring said ribs being attached to the peripheral ring, and said ribs defining a number of chambers inside the peripheral ring for carrying material during operation wherein an elastic peripheral sealing lip is arranged on the peripheral ring and engaging an upper housing wall such that an outer peripheral volume of the inside of the housing is sealed from a central volume of the housing.

In one embodiment, the present disclosure includes a granule dispenser comprising a container for holding granulated components, a cap coupled to a bottom of said container, and a stopper. The stopper may be spring loaded against the ridge of said cap. An interface between the stopper and the cap comprises a plurality of protrusions and a plurality of sawtooth forms, wherein the protrusions mate to a base portion between the sawtooth forms in a first position to form a seal between the cap and the stopper, and wherein, when the stopper is rotated, the protrusions engage a sloped portion of the sawtooth forms to create a plurality of openings between the cap and the stopper.

A precision measurement device includes a housing and a rotor. A feed inlet is provided at an upper side of the housing. A discharge outlet is provided at a lower side of the housing. The rotor is connected to a motor. Three rings of measurement recesses are formed on the outer wall of the rotor in correspondence with the feed inlet and the discharge outlet. An upper end of the feed inlet has a trapezoid shape which is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. The discharge outlet is disposed off-center at an ascending position of the rotation cylinder, achieving an accurate measurement effect.

A weighing device includes a conveyance unit which conveys an article, a hopper which receives the article conveyed by the conveyance unit, temporarily holds the article, and then discharges the article downstream, a detection unit which detects the article between a conveyance end of the conveyance unit and the hopper, and a control unit which controls driving of the conveyance unit. When the detection unit does not detect the article at a start of driving of the conveyance unit, the control unit drives the conveyance unit for a first period. When the detection unit detects the article at a start of driving of the conveyance unit, the control unit drives the conveyance unit for a second period longer than the first period.

The foundry sand binder supply apparatus of the present invention comprises a hopper for storing a binder therein, a binder transfer device for transferring the binder, a binder measuring and discharging device disposed beneath a distal end of the binder transfer device, and a binder supply amount control device. The binder measuring and discharging device comprises a measuring container for receiving the binder therein, a load cell for measuring the weight of the binder inside the measuring container, and a discharge device for discharging the binder from the measuring container. The binder supply amount control device is operable to control the discharge device to discharge the binder from the measuring container by a predetermined amount less than the whole amount of the binder inside the measuring container, and control the binder transfer device to supply the binder into the measuring container by the predetermined amount of the discharged binder.