A machine for automatically positioning objects is disclosed. The machine has one inlet conveyor to transport objects in a lying position; a detector system to identify the orientation and/or shape of the objects; a robotic collection device to collect and position the objects according to information received by the detector system; a transfer conveyor having transfer fasteners arranged in fixed positions along a periphery of the transfer conveyor defining a closed loop around a tilted axis; an outlet conveyor to receive and transport the objects in an upright position; and a transfer fastener seat for the objects at each transfer fastener. The conveyor moves the fasteners seats because of the movement of the transfer conveyor between an upper receiving position, in which the object is held in a lying position, and a lower delivery position, in which the object is held in an upright position. The transfer conveyor and the outlet conveyor are synchronized.

A device for aligning products which includes an infeed station, to which the products are fed in a loose fashion, an outfeed station, from which the products come out aligned in at least two rows side by side and parallel, at least two conveyor belts, positioned alongside and parallel to each other in a conveying plane, between the infeed station and the outfeed station, and movable in a conveying direction, and a first panel, positioned centrally between the belts and extending along the conveying direction; and wherein the first panel is movable between a raised position, where the first panel protrudes from the conveying plane, and a lowered position, where the first panel is recessed in the conveying plane.

A lane forming apparatus can include a first arm, a second arm, a moving device, and at least one supporting device. The first arm can be disposed for lateral, pivoting movement about a pivot axis and across a rectilinear path. The second arm can be telescopically engaged with the first arm and extend between a proximal end and a distal end. The moving device can be engaged with the distal end and configured to move the distal end in at least two dimensions relative to the pivot axis. The supporting device can be positioned on an underside of one of the first arm and the second arm and can be configured to bear at least a portion of a weight of at least one of the first arm and the second arm during the lateral, pivoting movement.

A flipping apparatus, a system for processing articles comprising a said flipping apparatus, and a method for processing articles are provided. An article is picked by a first flipping arm. The first flipping arm rotates from a pick position into a pass position, at which the article is passed to a second flipping arm, which is in a receive position. The second flipping arm rotates from the receive position to a place position and places the article. By the passing of the article from the first to the second flipping arm and the rotations a flipping of the article is achieved. The first flipping arm and the second flipping arm each rotate at a higher speed when not carrying an article than when carrying an article. In addition, first and/or second flipping arm may perform a translation movement.

A conveyor belt system having a belt in contact with an array of actuators that are functional to move the belt in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the belt. The belt actuators can be functional to move individually to form a desired topography of the belt. The conveyor belt system can, thereby, move a workpiece in three dimensions for improved manufacturing and/or warehousing.

A column of cups guided by their rims in elongated slots is spaced into desired cup pitch by one or more linear stars from which the cups can be transferred for packaging. The linear stars have lugs engaging and spacing the cups. In another aspect of the invention, cups are manipulated into patterns for final grouping and packaging and by a plurality of cup orienting pickers engaging, inverting and re-orienting the cups. In one final packaged cup group of two or more layers, alternating cups in each layer are inverted and a top lid of a cup in an upper layer is disposed on a top lid of a cup in a bottom layer, while a bottom of a cup in an upper layer is disposed on a bottom of a cup in a lower layer, and in an alternating pattern.

The objective of the invention is to arrange the articles on the conveyor so that the bundle can be easily stacked on top of each other. This problem can occur when the articles have caps on one side of the bundle causing a sloped surface that hinders stacking the bundles. The problem can be solved by arranging the articles so that the caps are always on the outside of the bundle.

This article transfer apparatus comprises a disk member, an article supply apparatus which changes at least positions of the respective articles at a predetermined circumferential position of the rotating disk member, a rotation sensor which detects a rotational position of the disk member, a visual sensor which obtains information for identifying at least positions of the respective articles on the disk member, and a robot which picks up the articles on the disk member in a state in which the disk member is rotating, by using an article position information in which the information obtained by the visual sensor corresponds to a detected result of the rotation sensor at the time of obtaining the information, and a detected result of the rotation sensor at the time of picking up the articles.

The invention relates to a device, a system and a method for transportation, separation and orientation in a head up position of cuvettes. The invention also relates to using the device or the system for transportation, separation and orientation in head up position of the cuvettes. The device comprises a pipe, a rotating auger, a motor, a guiding plate and a slide rail. The system further comprises at least one cuvette.

The invention relates to a device, a system and a method for transportation, separation and orientation in a head up position of cuvettes. The invention also relates to using the device or the system for transportation, separation and orientation in head up position of the cuvettes. The device comprises a pipe, a rotating auger, a motor, a guiding plate and a slide rail. The system further comprises at least one cuvette.