A workpiece transfer hand includes a support plate and a suction unit on the upper surface of the plate. The upper surface of the plate has a recess whose bottom is formed with first and second pressure ports. The suction unit includes an elevator, elastic member, and first/second cylindrical members. The elevator, vertically movable in the recess along a stroke, has a vertical suction hole. The elastic member biases the elevator upward or downward. The first cylindrical member expands and contracts vertically, with its upper end connected to the elevator to surround the suction hole and its lower end connected to the bottom of the recess to surround the first pressure port. The second cylindrical member expands and contracts vertically, with its upper end connected to the elevator and its lower end connected to the bottom of the recess to surround the second pressure port.

There is provided an apparatus for transporting a substrate. The apparatus comprises: an end effector including a fork which holds the substrate and a wrist part which holds a proximal end portion of the fork; an arm provided with the end effector installed thereon and a mechanism which moves the fork; and an inclination adjusting mechanism provided between the fork and the wrist part or between the wrist part and the arm to adjust an inclination of the fork.

A gripper for a picking device for storing small piece goods and a method for operating a picking device having a gripper are provided. The gripper simplifies dispensing and includes a drop table extending in first and second horizontal directions, and has at least one end portion having a dispensing end face, wherein the drop table and the end portion define an upper support surface. A transport device for moving small piece goods is arranged above the drop table and sensor device(s) are arranged in the at least one end portion having detection regions associated therewith, the sensor device being arranged along a vertical axis in such a way that the detection regions cover a vertically extending space in front of the dispensing end face.

A wafer jig according to one or more embodiments may be used for a robot having a hand and a state detector. The hand can transport a wafer. The state detector detects a state of a member holding the wafer at the hand or a state of a negative pressure adsorbing the wafer at the hand. The wafer jig includes an information output part. The information output part outputs information to a hand side via the state detector by changing a detection result of the state detector.

An autonomous mobile robot including frame defining a payload holding area with a payload seating surface, and having a wheeled traverse system dependent from the frame for substantially free unrestricted roving of the autonomous mobile robot on a riding surface in a facility space, at least one drive section connected to the frame, and at least one motor defining at least one independent degree of freedom; and an articulated pick arm dependent from the frame, the articulated pick arm having an end effector configured so as to stably hold a container therewith, and being operably connected to the at least one motor so that the at least one independent degree of freedom extends and retracts, and raises and lowers the articulated pick arm defining a range of motion of the end effector spanning from an elevation below a lowermost level of the payload seating surface onto the payload seating surface.

A gripper for a transport system of a picking device having horizontal storage surfaces for storing and dispensing small piece goods of different shapes and/or surface properties is provided. The gripper comprises a drop table extending in first and a second horizontal directions and having a storage and dispensing end face. Two elongated gripping jaws are arranged above the drop table extending in the first horizontal direction, and are fastened to a gripping jaw guide arrangement. At least one of the gripping jaws is movable in the second horizontal direction and at least one of the gripping jaws has a gripper coupler in its end portion facing away from the gripping jaw guide arrangement, and at least one transport attachment with an attachment coupler. The gripper and attachment couplers interact so that a transport attachment is releasably fixed at an end portion of a gripping jaw.

A method for retrieving an inventory item based on a handling robot, where the handling robot includes: a storage frame; and a material handling device installed on the storage frame, and including a telescopic arm and a manipulator installed to the telescopic arm; and the method for retrieving an inventory item includes: driving, by the telescopic arm, the manipulator to extend to a preset position of warehouse shelf along a preset horizontal reference line; loading, by the manipulator that is remained on the reference line, the inventory item located in the preset position; driving, by the telescopic arm, the manipulator loaded with the inventory item to move to the storage frame along the reference line; and unloading, by the manipulator that is remained on the reference line, the inventory item to the storage frame.

A method for retrieving an inventory item based on a handling robot, where the handling robot includes: a storage frame; and a material handling device installed on the storage frame, and including a telescopic arm and a manipulator installed to the telescopic arm; and the method for retrieving an inventory item includes: driving, by the telescopic arm, the manipulator to extend to a preset position of warehouse shelf along a preset horizontal reference line; loading, by the manipulator that is remained on the reference line, the inventory item located in the preset position; driving, by the telescopic arm, the manipulator loaded with the inventory item to move to the storage frame along the reference line; and unloading, by the manipulator that is remained on the reference line, the inventory item to the storage frame.

A plasma processing apparatus is provided. The plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber defining a vertical direction and a lateral direction. The plasma processing apparatus includes a pedestal disposed within the processing chamber. The pedestal is configured to support the substrate. The plasma processing apparatus includes a radio frequency (RF) disposed within the processing chamber. The RF bias electrode defines a RF zone extending between a first end of the RF bias electrode and a second end of the RF bias electrode along the lateral direction. The plasma processing apparatus includes a focus ring disposed within the processing chamber. The plasma processing apparatus further includes a focus ring adjustment assembly. The focus ring adjustment assembly includes a lift pin positioned outside of the RF zone. The lift pin is movable along the vertical direction to adjust a distance between the pedestal and the focus ring along the vertical direction.

The invention relates to a method of handling food products, in which at least one respective product is placed onto a carrier that has a base and a tab pivotable relative to the base about a kink line, the carrier together with the product disposed thereon is fed to a pick-up region that is disposed in a working region of a transfer device, and the carrier together with the product disposed thereon is picked up by the transfer device, is then fed by means of the transfer device to an insertion region of a packaging machine, and is inserted there with a downward movement of the transfer device into a package component, wherein the carrier is moved past a folding contour, which is arranged in the insertion region, during the downward movement and in so doing, on the one hand, the tab is pivoted relative to the base by cooperation with the folding contour and, on the other hand, the carrier is secured against lifting by a holding device of the transfer device that is effective at or in the region of the kink line.