A product unpacking system includes a work surface at a first height and a product unloading position at a second height. An adjustable cutter is positioned adjacent to the work surface and configured to cut a plurality of sides of each case. A case movement device, such as a robot or manual mover, is configured to retrieve a case from a group of cases and move the case to the cutter to cut a plurality of sides of the case. The case movement device may then move the cut case to an unload position over a product container to allow products within the case to drop into the product container. A system of conveyors may be used to convey empty product containers toward the work surface and to convey filled product containers away from the work surface. The system may be automated to receive recipe information for each case to be unloaded and modify parameters of the system based on the case.

A robot for transferring a wafer is disclosed. A blade of the robot includes a first sensor on an upper surface of the blade and the second sensor on a back surface of the blade. The first sensor is operable to align the blade with a wafer. The second sensor is operable to align the blade with a holder that holds the wafer.

A vacuum tube assembly for removing material is disclosed, including: a vacuum generator configured to generate a vacuum airflow; one or more tubes coupled to the vacuum generator and configured to channel the vacuum airflow; and an actuation mechanism coupled to the one or more tubes, wherein the actuation mechanism is configured to actuate at least one tube from a first position relative to a material stream to a second position relative to the material stream, wherein the first position is farther from the material stream than the second position.

A flexible robot end effector includes the end effector including a mounting assembly and a flexible finger, one end of the flexible finger configured to mount at one side of the mounting assembly; the flexible finger including a protective layer and a plurality of holding mechanisms; the flexible finger further including a base, and two opposite sides of the base respectively connected with the holding mechanism and a pneumatic device; the protective layer configured to be sleeved on both outsides of the holding mechanism and the base so that an airtight chamber is formed among the base, the holding mechanism and the protective layer; when the air is blown into the airtight chamber by the pneumatic device, the flexible fingers inflated, and a gap between the two adjacent holding mechanisms gradually increasing.

A non-contact suction cup device (100) with flow recycling. The device is based on the recycling flow of fluid through one or more passage(s) (12) provided inside a suction cup chamber (51). The device further optionally includes a flow diverter (4) configured to divert the flow of fluid, and suction means (5) either directly or indirectly attached with the suction cup of the device (100), configured to suck or draw the fluid (11) from the periphery (52). The said passage (12) allow part of fluid to recirculate within the device chamber, hence causing a recycling effect on fluid used to create suction, which provides lower acoustic noise and higher energy efficiency.

An information processing apparatus to output control information for controlling a suction device configured to suction a packaged object includes an input unit and an output unit. The input unit inputs an image obtained by performing image capturing of a surface of the packaged object. The output unit outputs the control information to control timing at which suction is started by the suction device, based on a state of the surface of the packaged object specified from the image.

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are disclosed for concentric suction cup tools with parallel pistons. In one embodiment, an example picking assembly may include a first piston subassembly with a first air cylinder, a first sliding rail that slides relative to the first air cylinder, and a first suction cup. The example picking assembly may include a second piston subassembly comprising a second air cylinder, a second sliding rail that slides relative to the second air cylinder, and a second suction cup, where the first and second piston subassemblies may be configured to independently actuate from a retracted position to an extended position. The example picking assembly may include a first guide plate with a first aperture for the first piston subassembly and a second aperture for the second piston subassembly, a shell that forms a housing for the picking assembly, and an airflow coupler.

A grinding apparatus has a hermetically sealed chamber defined by a portion of a holding surface which extends radially outwardly from a wafer, an outer wall surface of a first annular packing, a lower surface of a plate, and an inner wall surface of a second annular packing. A negative pressure is developed by suction forces applied from the holding surface, allowing the atmospheric pressure to press the plate toward the holding surface and causing the first annular packing to press an outer circumferential portion of the wafer against the holding surface. Since the outer circumferential portion of the wafer is pressed against the holding surface under the suction forces from the holding surface and the atmospheric pressure, the forces pressing the outer circumferential portion of the wafer against the holding surface are increased easily at a low cost without increasing the size and weight of the grinding apparatus.

An object gripping mechanism is provided for use with a robotic arm. A robotic arm and method of manufacturing an object gripping mechanism are also provided. The object gripping mechanism includes an attachment modular configured to connect the object gripping mechanism to the robotic arm. The object gripping mechanism also includes a plurality of retractable arms each pivotably connected with the attachment modular. The object gripping mechanism also includes one or more movement mechanisms collectively configured to pivot the plurality of retractable arms to a desired position. The object gripping mechanism further includes a drive mechanism positioned within each of the plurality of retractable arms and configured to pivot the object engagement feature using a gear and timing belt configuration.

A robotic work cell uses an object separating mechanism to disperse bulk objects into a 2D arrangement on a horizontal surface and uses a vision system to generate pick-up (positional) data and rotational orientation data for each sequentially selected target object of the 2D arrangement. A pick-and-place robot mechanism uses the positional data to pick-up each target object and uses the rotational orientation data to reorientate the target object during transfer to a designated hand-off location. A carousel-type robotic end-tool disposed on a 4-axis object-processing robot mechanism rotates a gripper mechanism around a vertical axis to move the target object from the hand-off location to a designated processing location, where an associated processing device performs a desired process (e.g., label application) on the target object. In one embodiment the gripper mechanism is selectively rotatable around a horizontal axis to facilitate processing on opposing surfaces of the target object.