Embodiments of product handling systems facilitate transfer of individual product items from incoming bulk form into dedicated trays for inspection, sorting, selection, and packaging. Inspection may comprise interrogation of product items within a tray by electromagnetic (e.g., optical, hyperspectral) or other (e.g., physical, acoustic, gas sensing, etc.) techniques. Prior to packaging, product items disposed within the tray may be stored in a moveable carousel responsible for controlling environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, illumination, ambient gases, product-to-product interactions, and/or others. Movement of product items from a carousel's transfer station to an outside staging position may be accomplished using robots and/or conveyor belts. Embodiments may allow rapid, low-cost consumer selection of specific individual product items based upon their accompanying metadata (e.g., source, identifier), in combination with the results of inspection (e.g., visual appearance). Embodiments may receive product items pre-packaged in tray format to expedite inspection, sorting, selection, and packaging.

A main unit includes a cassette shelf, at least one transporting cassette holder that temporarily holds a cassette removed from the cassette shelf and to be transported to a drug receiver, at least one returning cassette holder that temporarily holds the cassette received from the drug receiver and to be returned to the cassette shelf, and a main cassette transporter that transports the cassette between the cassette shelf and the at least one transporting cassette holder, and between the cassette shelf and the at least one returning cassette holder.

A tool and system for inspecting, handling, sorting, and packing a sealable bag, the tool including: a housing which includes a mount for mechanically mounting the tool to a tip end of a robot arm; at least four displaceable fingers fixed to the housing in a configuration corresponding to dimensions of the sealable bag, each displaceable finger being displaceable in an axial direction of the displaceable finger and having a sensor for sensing displacement of the displaceable finger by more than a predetermined amount; a suction mechanism fixed to the housing and actuatable to lift the sealable bag; and a controller in communication with the sensor and with the suction mechanism.

A system for transferring articles, comprising: a plurality of gripping devices, configured to grip respective articles which pass along a first conveyor, wherein each gripping device is movable independently from the remaining gripping devices, a control unit, configured for controlling said plurality of gripping devices, the transfer system being characterised in that it comprises a first detection sensor, configured to detect a first value indicating a position of an article on the first conveyor, and in that said control unit is configured for: receiving said first value, positioning a gripping device at said article, as a function of said first value, gripping said article by said gripping device, adjusting, as a function of the first value, a speed of the gripping device which grips the article, and releasing the article from the gripping device when the article reaches a release position.

The present invention relates to a picking cell for a job-related automated picking of goods that can remove different goods from supply bins and can transfer them into an output bin in an automated manner, said picking cell comprising: an object detection device for detecting the goods in a supply bin; a gripper for removing the goods from a supply bin; and a cell control for evaluating the data of the object detection device and for a path planning and a control of the gripper, wherein the cell control controls the gripper such that different goods of a job or of a partial job are placed at a predefined position and/or with a predefined orientation in the output bin.

Packaging apparatus and methods include a plurality of article grippers driven by independently controlled motors in an end-of-arm tooling (EOAT), for picking articles, grouping articles, adjusting group pitch and placing article groups in packages where incoming articles and packages are continuously or intermittently moving and without motion of the entire EOAT in the direction in which articles and packages are picked and moved. Hole healing and incoming product registration apparatus and methods are disclosed.

Embodiments of product handling systems facilitate transfer of individual product items from incoming bulk form into dedicated trays for inspection, sorting, selection, and packaging. Inspection may comprise interrogation of product items within a tray by electromagnetic (e.g., optical, hyperspectral) or other (e.g., physical, acoustic, gas sensing, etc.) techniques. Prior to packaging, product items disposed within the tray may be stored in a movable carousel responsible for controlling environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, illumination, ambient gases, product-to-product interactions, and/or others. Movement of product items from a carousel's transfer station to an outside staging position may be accomplished using robots and/or conveyor belts. Embodiments may allow rapid, low-cost consumer selection of specific individual product items based upon their accompanying metadata (e.g., source, identifier), in combination with the results of inspection (e.g., visual appearance). Embodiments may receive product items pre-packaged in tray format to expedite inspection, sorting, selection, and packaging.

The present invention relates to a pouch collection robot system (1) and method for the collection of non-filled spouted pouches (10) to be transported to a remote filling device. According to the invention, at least one pick and place robot unit (25) with a gripping device (28) is provided to pick up a non-filled spouted pouch (10) from a conveyor (5), and to place the non-filled spouted pouch (10) into alignment with one of a multiple of storage rails (21), allowing the non-filled spouted pouch to be placed into the storage rail.

An automated method and system for stacking and loading wrapped facemasks into a carton in a facemask production line include conveying individual wrapped facemasks to a delivery location adjacent to a rotary wheel, the rotary wheel conveyor having individual pick-up devices spaced around a circumference thereof. Each wrapped facemask is picked-up with a respective pick-up device on the rotary wheel conveyor and transported to a first carton staging area at a first location on the circumference of the rotary wheel. At the first staging area, the facemasks are released from the rotary wheel conveyor and deposited into a carton.

Robotic pick-and-place automation is used to transfer oral solid pharmaceuticals from moveable trays or canisters. Sensors are used to verify that the pharmaceuticals have been properly placed in the desired pharmaceutical locations precisely according to the patient prescription data. A pharmacist places pharmaceutical products within dispensing trays or canisters to present the pharmaceutical products for picking and placing via the robotic pick-and-place machinery. Once the canister or tray is located adjacent the pick-and-place device, a sensor or imaging unit associated with the pick-and-place device verifies that the pharmaceutical product the size, shape, and/or color of an expected pharmaceutical product that is to be placed within the packaging material in accordance with patient prescription data stored by a computer associated with the system. Sensors verify that each individual pharmaceutical specified by a patient prescription have been deposited into each specified location strictly in accordance with the patient prescription data.