A movable belt breakage prevention and catching system for a belt conveyor includes a detection device, two tracks, a plurality of catching devices, and a control system. The detection device is mounted on the belt conveyor, and is configured to detect whether a belt of the belt conveyor has a crack. The two tracks are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the belt conveyor, and the plurality of catching devices are symmetrically arranged on the two tracks. The control system is configured to control the plurality of catching devices to simultaneously catch the belt firmly when the detection device detects that the belt has a crack; and after firmly catching the belt, each catching device is able to unidirectionally move along with the belt along the track where the catching device is positioned.

The attachment possible period during which the attachment operation of the component supply reel can be performed is predicted for each of the tape feeders equipped in the component mounting apparatus, and the attachment time indicating a timing of the attachment operation is set to overlap the attachment possible periods of the candidate feeders, out of the tape feeders. Therefore, a frequency of the component replenishment operation of the operator can be suppressed. Further, the execution mode of the attachment operation for the candidate feeder corresponding to the attachment time is determined based on the number of the components planned to be supplied in accordance with the production planning by the candidate feeder. Therefore, a number of the components suitable for the production planning of the components-mounted boards can be replenished.

A production control system includes a plurality of processing machines configured to successively process a plurality of workpieces conveyed on a production line, and a system server connected to the plurality of processing machines, in which the system server acquires an operating status associated with a time from each of the plurality of processing machines, associates the acquired operating statuses with the plurality of workpieces successively arriving at the processing machines, and thereby identifies each of the plurality of workpieces conveyed on the production line.

According to the invention, a method is provided for preparing, in particular for assembling and packaging, ingredients for at least one dish. This method comprises the following steps: a reading step in which a customer's order data are read, this order data comprising at least recipe data for the ingredients contained in the dish as well as customer data, an assigning step in which at least one ingredient container is assigned predefined customer data, a conveying step in which the ingredient container is conveyed to a transport device of a packaging line, a positioning step in which at least one ingredient container is positioned in the region of a loading station of the packaging line by means of the transport device, this loading station having at least two ingredients or three, four, or more ingredients kept on hand in corresponding ingredient compartments, an indicating step in which corresponding indicators of the ingredient container and ingredient compartments indicate whether they are included in the recipe data, a loading step in which, if the ingredients are included in the recipe data, the ingredient container is loaded with the corresponding ingredient or ingredients in the loading station, the repetition and execution of the positioning step, the indicating step, and the loading step until all of the ingredients included in the recipe data have been placed in the ingredient container.

A conveying apparatus includes: an article detection device; a gripping device with base portion and palm portion, a suction portion, fingers, and a driving mechanism; a negative pressure supplying device; a moving device; a recognition device that measures the shape, the posture, and the size of the article; an operation plan generation device that selects a suction surface of the article, and plans a gripping posture; and a control device that controls an operation of the gripping device and an operation of the moving device to obtain a gripping posture planned by the operation plan generation device.

A processing system is disclosed for processing objects. The processing system includes a perception system for providing perception data regarding an object, and a primary transport system for providing transport of the object along a primary direction toward a processing location that is identified based on the perception data.

A system and method therefor for use with a conveyor carrying cartons inbound to a printing area and outbound away from the printing area. The system has a printer located in the printing area for printing documents to be inserted into corresponding cartons on the conveyor and a controller for cooperatively controlling operations of the conveyor and the printer based on the positions of the cartons relative to the printer. The controller includes a staging processor for determining when to cause the conveyor to carry the cartons inbound past the printer and when to cause the printer to print the documents. In operation, the controller queues the documents for printing, monitors outbound capacity of the conveyor based on detected positions of the cartons, releases a group of the cartons inbound on the conveyor in response to the outbound capacity reaching a predetermined threshold, and initiates printing the queued documents corresponding to the cartons in the group when the group of the cartons is released.

Various embodiments described herein generally relate to techniques for conveying articles on a conveyor system of a robotic carton unloader in a material handling environment. In accordance with an embodiment, the robotic carton unloader includes angled center guides for conveying and guiding one or more articles on one or more individually actuatable zones of the center conveyor. In this aspect, one or more zones may be actuated selectively to move rollers-driven belts of respective zones, in either of an upstream direction or a downstream direction, to separate and convey cartons on the center conveyor.

A method of printing a tag and attaching the tag to a bag for printing, severing and feeding non-curled tags to sewing machines. The method of printing a tag and attaching the tag to a bag comprising providing a control unit, a bag conveyor, a bag switch, a printer unit, a chute, a chute sensor, and a feeder assembly; printing and severing a tag in the printer unit; dispensing the tag into the chute to prevent the tag from curling and jamming; and feeding the tag to a sewing machine whereupon the tag is attached to a bag.

A processing system is disclosed for processing objects. The processing system includes a perception system for providing perception data regarding an object, and a primary transport system for providing transport of the object along a primary direction toward a processing location that is identified based on the perception data.