A holding device for food includes a second posture detecting part configured to detect that all the plurality of foods fed to the given positions are in the second posture, and a control part configured to control operation of the second holding part to hold the plurality of foods in the second posture so that the foods are piled up in the given direction, when the second posture detecting part detects that all the plurality of foods are in the second posture at the given positions.

A temporary-storage system that includes a temporary-storage belt, a control unit and signalling means. The temporary-storage belt comprises a plurality of regularly distributed sensors. During a loading phase, the control unit receives information coming from at least one of the sensors when an object is deposited on the temporary-storage belt and records a trace of the deposition of the object in association with a reference to each of the sensors activated by the deposition. During an unloading phase, the control unit determines a sequence of removal of the objects and, for each object to be removed, identifies the sensors referenced, transmits to the signalling means signalling information identifying the position of the object, and receives information coming from at least one of the sensors when the object is removed.

Method and apparatus for optimizing control of robotic systems. Failures of a robotic device performing a lifting operation for one or more items within a fulfillment center over a window of time are monitored. Responsive to the failures exceeding a predefined threshold number of failures for the window of time, one or more control operations for optimizing performance of the robotic device are determined, by processing environmental metrics, failure type, mode of operation and item type information as inputs to a trained machine learning model. A control system for the robotic device is configured based on the determined one or more control operations, and movement of the robotic device is controlled using the configured control system, to perform the lifting operation for one or more additional items within the fulfillment center.

A method for controlling motion of a robot relative to a conveyor flow direction of a moving conveyor includes the steps of: establishing a tracking frame for coordinating a position and movement of the robot relative to an object support surface of the conveyor; setting an upstream boundary perpendicular or skewed to a conveyor flow direction of the conveyor; setting a downstream boundary perpendicular or skewed to the conveyor flow direction; optionally setting a circular boundary partially overlapping the upstream boundary and the downstream boundary, wherein the upstream boundary, the downstream boundary and the circular boundary are positioned to define a picking area relative to the support surface; and operating the robot to pick objects from the picking area.

An information processing apparatus obtains a plurality of combinations of a position of a work target candidate and a transport machine optimum control parameter which is a control parameter of the transport machine that maximizes performance of the work on a work target when the work target candidate is set as the work target, based on a captured image obtained by capturing an area including a plurality of the work target candidates transported by the transport machine, determines the work target from among the work target candidates based on the combinations, controls the transport machine based on the transport machine optimum control parameter of the determined work target, generates a control plan of the robot based on a position of the determined work target and the transport machine optimum control parameter of the work target and controls the robot according to the generated control plan.

The simulation reflects the actual behavior of a target in an application involving a target near a transporting surface of a carrier instead of being placed directly on the transporting surface. A simulator includes a creating unit that virtually creates a system in a three-dimensional virtual space, a tracking unit that updates positions of targets on the transporting surface in the three-dimensional virtual space based on a corresponding movement of the carrier, and updates a position of a target picked up by the processing device in association with a behavior of the processing device, and an instruction generation unit that generates a control instruction for the behavior of the processing device based on the position of each target. When the processing device places a target within a predetermined range from the transporting surface, the tracking unit associates the target with the transporting surface and updates a position of the target.

A computer implemented method and a system including at least one industrial robot arranged with a tool, and a conveyance path transferring a plurality of objects within a working area of the at least one robot. The computer implemented method includes obtaining position data indicating a position for each of the plurality of objects and applying a first strategy to the at least one robot. The first strategy includes: determining a value for each object within a certain area of the at least one robot, wherein the determination is based on the position data, and the value indicates a uniformity measure of the flow distribution in the direction of the conveyance path for the remaining objects within the certain area if the object, for which the value is determined for, was excluded from the conveyance path; determining a selected object within the working area of the at least one robot based on the determined values; and controlling the at least one robot to handle the selected object.

An automatic feeding system adapted to arrange a variety of components having different shapes comprises a storage apparatus and a first conveying device. The storage apparatus includes loaded storage devices loaded with the components and unloaded storage devices unloaded with the components. The first conveying apparatus includes a pair of first support frames disposed opposite to each other, a loading conveying apparatus mounted between the first support frames and configured to convey the unloaded storage devices to a loading position to load the components thereon and change the unloaded storage devices to loaded storage devices, and an unloading conveying apparatus mounted between the first support frames and configured to receive the loaded storage devices conveyed from the loading position. The unloading conveying apparatus conveys the unloaded storage devices to the loading conveying apparatus after the components on the loaded storage devices are picked up by a pick-up apparatus.

A device for picking up a component from a container and transferring the component to a production side. The device includes a gripping robot, which is designed to pick up a component from the container and to place the component picked up from the container onto a transfer device. The device includes a controller and an internal store with at least one component receptacle for the interim storage of components. The gripping robot is designed to respond to a storage signal from the controller by placing the component picked up from the container onto the component receptacle of the internal store, and is also designed to respond to an acceleration signal from the controller by placing the component received by the internal store onto the transfer device.

An arrangement for handling objects on an object transporting device includes an industrial robot and an object handling control device. The device estimates candidate handling positions (OP1, OP2, OP3, OP4, OP5, OP6, OP7) for at least one candidate object based on a first assumption; determines for each candidate handling position whether it lies within a working volume (wv1) of the robot; selects one of the candidate positions (OP1) at a first decision instant, the selection being at least partially based on the result of the determining; and handles an object at an actual handling position corresponding to the selected candidate handling position, the handling being performed after a usage time of the robot, the usage time including the time for moving the robot from the robot position at the first decision instant to the actual handling position, and the time for handling the object.