Various embodiments disclosed herein provide for an improved accumulation conveyor and systems and methods for controlling a high rate, high density tunable accumulation conveyor. In one embodiment, an accumulation conveyor system determines whether an item detection variable associated with a second zone of a plurality of zones is satisfied, wherein the second zone is downstream of a first zone. The accumulation conveyor system determines whether at least one of two operational characteristic variables is satisfied. In an instance where both the item detection variable and at least one operational characteristic variable are satisfied, the accumulation conveyor system is configured to set a zone operating state associated with the first zone to inactive and send a command signal comprising the zone operating state associated with the first zone to a control module associated with the first zone. In another embodiment, an improved method for adjusting aggressiveness is disclosed. In another embodiment, a tunable release rate accumulation conveyor is disclosed. In still another embodiment, a tunable crowding accumulation conveyor is disclosed.

A board work system including: a conveying and holding device including a pair of rails configured to support a board, and a changing mechanism configured to change a distance between the pair of rails, the conveying and holding device being configured to convey the board supported by the rails and hold the board at a work position; a work device configured to perform work with respect to the board held by the conveying and holding device from an underside of the board; a moving device configured to move the work device; and a control device, the control device including an acquiring section configured to acquire a rail spacing distance that is the distance between the pair of rails, and an operation control section configured to control operation of the moving device based on the rail spacing distance acquired by the acquiring section.

The present disclosure provides a computed-implemented method, a computing device and an apparatus for executing workflow of processing orders. The computing device retrieves information of an order of a plurality of orders. The computing device inputs the information of the order into a node having a condition associated with an operation. The computing device determines whether the information of the order meets a criterion of the condition. The computing device automatically executes the operation when the information of the order meets the criterion of the condition.

A system and an apparatus capable of independently driving movers are described herein. The system and apparatus includes: a track that forms a path for movers; a plurality of movers movably mounted on the track for moving along the path; and a plurality of drive elements fixedly arranged along the track. The drive elements each have a surface that is oriented to contact a driven member of the movers. The drive elements are configured to sequentially engage the driven member of a plurality of the movers to provide controlled independent motion of the movers along the track. The drive elements may be driven by rotary motors. A method of independently driving movers is also described herein.

Methods and systems are provided for disassembling products. In one example, a system may comprise a cutting room having a positioning device configured to position products at a cutting system, where cut products may fall to a transport system to be conveyed to a storage system. In some examples, the cutting room is fully automated.

A method and system for motion control of movers in an independent cart system is disclosed. In one implementation, the independent cart system includes a plurality of track segments, each section having a respective controller. One of the controllers receives a motion command for a plurality of carts, respectively. The controller generates a force command for each of the plurality of carts and transmits the respective commands to the track segments commutating the plurality of carts.

The present document discloses a conveyor system comprising a plurality of workpiece carriers (WPC), each adapted for supporting at least one workpiece (WP) during transportation, a conveyor (10, 10a, 10b, 10c, d), adapted for transporting the workpiece carriers (WPC), at least one flow device (3, 4, 5, 6) for controlling a movement of one of the workpiece carriers (WPC) relative to the conveyor (10, 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d), the flow device (3, 4, 6) comprising a local controller (30, 40), at least one workpiece carrier sensor and at least one actuator, and a central controller (100), which is in data communication with the flow device, and having a memory containing a flow plan comprising data describing an intended flow of workpieces in the conveyor system. The document also discloses a method of operating a conveyor system, stop devices and switch device for use in such a conveyor system.

A drive system for driving a belt is presented. The system comprises a frame, a driving shaft connected to a motor, a controller, a driven shaft, two pulleys connected to the driven and driving shafts, and a belt. The frame supports the driving and driven shafts to mount the belt on the pulleys. A signal element is mounted on and drives with the belt. At least two detection elements are mounted on the frame so that when the signal element passes the detection elements, a signal is generated as the belt moves. The detector elements are connected to a controller which controls the motor so that when the system starts, the belt moves until the signal element generates a signal in a first detector element to fix a zero point of the belt movement. The signal of the second detector element checks the zero point during normal drive operation.

A system for automatic learning of product manipulation, includes multiple scales for determining weight distributions of a product at different locations; multiple sensors for capturing images of the product; a robotic device for manipulating the product; and a computing device in communication with the other components. The computing device is configured to: control the robotic device to manipulate the product with predetermined parameters; determine dimensions and orientation of the product before and after the manipulation; calculate weight distribution of the product; evaluate the parameters; and determine suitable manipulation parameters of the product based on the evaluation.

A food processing system includes a food work device that performs predetermined work on a food, controller circuitry that controls the food work device, a sound input device that receives a sound made by a worker, and sound recognition circuitry that obtains and recognizes the input sound and, based on the recognized input sound, instructs the controller circuitry to control the food work device to perform predetermined processing.