A system configured to separate and identify articles, and the system including a manipulation unit configured to move articles from the source position in the direction of the discharging conveyor element, and the manipulation unit is configured to pick up the articles from the source position according to the position and/or orientation detected by the sensor unit, and an identification unit, which is configured to identify the articles moved by the manipulation unit in the direction of the discharging conveyor element, and the discharging conveyor element includes a position conveyor, which is configured to convey the article to a second position (P2) if this has not been identified by the identification unit, and the second position (P2) is arranged within a handle region of the manipulation unit.

A robotic system is disclosed. The system includes a communication interface, and one or more processors coupled to the communication interface and configured to: generate based at least in part on the received data a plan to stack the items on or in the destination location. For each item, the generating the plan includes determining the destination location based at least in part on a characteristic associated with the item, and at least one of (i) a characteristic of a platform or receptacle on which one or more items are to be stacked, and (ii) an existing stack of one or more items on the platform or receptacle. The destination location is determined from among a plurality of zones in which platforms or receptacles are disposed, and each of the plurality of zones are within a range of a robotic arm. A robotic arm is controlled to implement the plan.

Provided is a production line management system for managing a manufacturing line for containers. The production line management system includes a first reading unit for reading an identification code applied to each of the containers when the container with the identification code indicating an identifier being information identifying the container passes through a first point on the manufacturing line, a second reading unit for reading the identification code applied to each of the containers after the first reading unit reads the identification code, and a computing unit for generating a database in which the identifier indicated by the identification code and relevant information about each of the containers are associated, and determining normality/abnormality of each of the containers by comparing the relevant information associated in the database with the identifier indicated by the identification code read in the second reading unit with predetermined setting information.