An article sorting control apparatus includes a memory, a processor, and a communication interface. The memory stores sorting destination management information including reference conveyance route information, fixed sorting destination information, and dynamic sorting destination information. The processor selects a first diverging control signal or a second diverging control signal. The communication interface transmits the first or the second diverging control signal to an article sorting apparatus.

A method of processing objects is disclosed using a programmable motion device. The method includes the steps of acquiring an object from a plurality of mixed objects at an input area, perceiving identifying indicia in connection with the object, assigning an intermediate station to a destination location for the object responsive to the identifying indicia in connection with the object, and moving the acquired object toward the intermediate station.

An industrial robot adapted for operation in a factory environment includes: sensors, actuators, a robot controller and a wireless interface configured to establish a sidelink to a further industrial robot or a group of industrial robots after a successful proximity verification. The industrial robot is configured to participate in execution of a utility task, which is carried out in collaboration with the further industrial robot or at least some members of the group of industrial robots, said collaboration including an exchange of operational data over the sidelink. An example utility task is the coordinated transfer of an object by multiple participating industrial robots. Another example is the collecting of map information by multiple participating industrial robots.

Autonomously operated systems and methods of packing unbound folded laundry articles are described. A system of stacking a plurality of folded laundry articles onto a receiving surface includes two or more side-by-side parallel extendable surfaces configured to extend at least one of independently and simultaneously, at least one sensor configured to detect a presence of one or more folded laundry articles on at least one of the surfaces, and a controller in operative communication with at least one drive of the two or more surfaces and the at least one sensor. The controller is configured to extend a loading end of at least one of the surfaces out upon receiving a signal from the at least one sensor, and retract the loading end to deposit the one or more folded laundry articles atop at least one of the receiving surface and one or more previously deposited folded laundry articles.

An automated palletizer for building a mixed case pallet comprising of a case infeed that feeds mixed cases provides an input queue feed sequence of mixed cases to at least one pallet building robot that is communicably connected to the case infeed and accesses the mixed cases of the input queue feed sequence. The robot receives mixed cases in the input queue feed and place mixed cases according to the input queue feed so as to effect building the mixed case pallet at a predetermined and substantially steady placement rate which the controller is communicably connected to the case infeed and the at least one pallet building robot. The controller is designed to generate a complete and stable mixed case arrangement plan that completes a predetermined whole part of the mixed case pallet that describes a predetermined planned location and pose for each case of the mixed case arrangement plan.

The disclosure relates to a method for operating a production plant having a plurality of processing stations, wherein the workpieces to be processed can be transported to the various processing stations by means of a transport system, wherein a plurality of computers are provided which are connected for data exchange via a computer network, the production plant being controlled by means of a plurality of control processes. According to the disclosure, during the operation of the production plant an initial decision is taken automatically about which control process is executed on which computer, wherein the initial decision is then implemented automatically.

Provided is a control system including controller configured to manage ID information comprising a unique number of a carrier on which a goods is mounted from among a plurality of carriers provided to tilt in a second direction or a third direction, such that each of the carriers moves along the first direction on a goods sorter and sorts the goods to at least one of a plurality of sorting openings, a recognizer configured to sense a material of the goods and a falling point at which the goods falls in a sorting opening, and an analyzer configured to generate result data obtained by analyzing a tilting speed and a tilting strength of the carrier, wherein the controller outputs a controls signal such that the at least one of the tilting speed and the tilting strength of the carrier is controlled based on the result data.

Various embodiments provide systems and methods for providing a desired gap between articles within a continuously flowing train of articles. Various embodiment methods may include operating a material handling system including a plurality of conveying units, by generating motion profiles for a plurality of articles to provide a pre-determined gap between the articles, and controlling the plurality of conveying units to move each article in accordance with its motion profile as the plurality of articles move through the material handling system.

A transport vehicle management method includes self-testing a transport vehicle to determine whether there is an abnormality in the transport vehicle, checking whether the transport vehicle is capable of self-correcting the abnormality when the abnormality is detected in the transport vehicle, and self-correcting the abnormality when the transport vehicle is capable of self-correcting the abnormality.

Various embodiments provide systems and methods for providing a desired gap between articles within a continuously flowing train of articles. Various embodiment methods may include operating a material handling system including a plurality of conveying units, by generating motion profiles for a plurality of articles to provide a pre-determined gap between the articles, and controlling the plurality of conveying units to move each article in accordance with its motion profile as the plurality of articles move through the material handling system.