A production line comprises one or more assembling stations and at least one module for carrying containers for supplying to the assembling stations parts which are necessary during the execution of a working cycle. In one example, the module includes a paternoster conveying system including a plurality of drawings for containing the parts. The module includes two endless lateral chains and two lateral guide rails engaged with each drawer. The paternoster system and guide rails selectively position the drawers to downwardly angularly rotate toward the workstation when facing the workstation to increase ergonomic access to the parts for the assembling station operator.

A pouch-placement machine includes an elevator assembly that receives pouches from one conveyor, lifts them up for presentation to robot arms. The robot arms pick pouches from the elevator assembly and place them into cartons that are on a second conveyor.

A vertical transmission equipment includes a base having a mount surface, a rail structure disposed on the mount surface, and a carrier movably disposed on the rail structure, the carrier includes a supporting surface, and the supporting surface of the carrier is perpendicular to the mount surface of the base.

A vertical transmission equipment includes a base which includes a mount surface, a carrier movably disposed on the base and including a supporting surface, and a positioning assembly disposed on the base and to selectively position the carrier, and the supporting surface of the carrier is perpendicular to the mount surface of the base.

A robot system and a robot controller, by which teaching operation, etc., for a robot can be easily carried out, with respect to a shelf having an unchangeable orientation. The robot controller has: a rotation angle obtaining section configured to obtain a rotation angle of a first rotation axis; a coordinate system calculating section configured to calculate a second coordinate system based on a first coordinate system; a position/orientation calculating section configured to calculate a position and orientation of the robot on a reference coordinate system, based on the rotation angle of the first rotation axis obtained by the rotation angle obtaining section and the teaching position on the second coordinate system; and a motion command generating section configured to generate a motion command for controlling a motion of the operation of the robot, based on the position and orientation of the robot calculated by the position/orientation calculating section.

A conveyance device has a drive route part wherein conveyance carriages travel at predetermined intervals, which is connected to a storage route part having a drive conveyer chain that supports the conveyance carriages for free travel. The drive route part has a drive conveyer chain including spaced carriage propulsion claw parts. The conveyance carriages have moved pins that horizontally extends in the left/right direction and which are freely detached/re-fitted in the up/down direction with the carriage propulsion claw parts. The conveyance device has a carriage-positioning mechanism which positions a conveyance carriage at a fixed position wherein the moved pin is positioned immediately before a guide ring for a corresponding one of the carriage propulsion claw parts, and has a carriage pushing-out mechanism which pushes out the conveyance carriage positioned at the fixed position, at a timing when the moved pin is fitted to the carriage propulsion claw part.

A laboratory distribution system is presented. The system comprises diagnostic laboratory container carriers and a conveyor. The conveyor comprises an endless drive defining a closed-loop conveyor pathway. The system comprises supporting elements attached to the endless drive. The supporting elements receive a container carrier and transport the container carrier in an upright position along a pathway section. The supporting elements are mounted pivotally about a horizontal pivot axis to the drive and structured such that a center of gravity of the supporting element with or without an empty or loaded container carrier is arranged below and vertically aligned with the pivot axis when the supporting element is in an upright position such that each supporting element is free to pivot about the associated pivot axis under the effect of gravitational forces acting on the supporting element for maintaining the supporting elements in an upright position while travelling along the path.

A conveying apparatus (1) for conveying food products, comprising: a conveyor (2) developing along a closed conveying path (3), said conveyor (2) comprising a first and second endless chain (4, 5) arranged parallel to each other: 5 a plurality of containers (6) transversally mounted between said first and second endless chain (4, 5), each container (6) comprising: at least one cup-shaped receptacle (8) for a food product: a first pin (9) and a second pin (10) protruding respectively from opposite ends of the container (6); 10 a plurality of pairs of supports (11, 12), each pair being formed by a first support (11) mounted on the first endless chain (4) and a second support (12) mounted on the second endless chain (5), each support (11, 12) having a bore (13) dimensioned and shaped for receiving one of said pins (9, 10), the first pin (9) and the second pin (10) 15 of each container (6) being removably mounted within the bores (13) of one pair of supports (11, 12).

An apparatus for the transfer of conveying devices of containers of biological products between laboratory automation systems placed at different heights. The apparatus include a motor-driven belt arranged transversely with respect to the automation systems. Shelves are fixed to the motor-driven belt for accommodating the conveying devices during the transfer. The conveying devices are loaded/unloaded on/from the shelves of the apparatus by the action of pushers. The belt allows for, by rotation, a simultaneous bidirectional transfer, both in ascent and descent, of conveying devices from one automation system to the other.

An article transport apparatus includes a plurality of supports, a supporting rotator that rotatably supports the supports at a plurality of positions, a driving portion for rotating the supporting rotator, an attitude maintenance mechanism for keeping the plurality of supports in a constant attitude irrespective of a phase of the supporting rotator, an article carry-in portion for carrying an article into the support located at a first position, and an article carry-out portion for carrying an article out of the support located at a second position.