This disclosure sets forth a robotic end effector for acquiring and managing an article, such as an item of luggage. The robotic end effector can include an extendable arm comprising a first support member, a capture device comprising a guide member having a plurality of apertures formed therein with a rod slideably supported in each aperture of the guide member. The capture device can further include a biasing member associated with one or more rods and being configured to bias the one or more rods in a first direction relative to the guide member. The article interface system can include an actuatable article engagement device. The actuatable article engagement device can itself include an article interface surface. The actuatable article engagement device can be operated to interface with an article to facilitate movement of the article toward the capture device.

In order, e.g., to provide a line sorter in which acoustic noise resulting from the polygon effect is reduced, there is disclosed a sorter (102) for sorting items of various shapes, sizes and weights, such as postal parcels or airport baggage. The sorter includes a closed loop comprising a plurality of sorting carts (302) for moving along an upper track section, a lower track section and end track sections in a moving direction. The plurality of carts are coupled at couplings (312), which enable the carts to pivot relatively to each other in at least one plane when in operation. Each cart is able to pivot relatively to an adjacent cart at two or more pivot points (404, 414, 1002) where the two or more pivot points are positioned a pivot point distance greater than zero apart in the moving direction of the carts.

A baggage transfer conveyer unit for mounting over a baggage carousel having a carousel transferring path for transferring a baggage therealong is provided. The conveyor unit comprises a proximal end, a distal end, an upper surface by means of which the baggage is to be transferred from the proximal end to the distal end along a conveyor unit transferring path extending between the ends, a baggage transferring mechanism configured for causing the upper surface to transfer the baggage along the conveyor transferring path; and a baggage diverting mechanism configured for causing a part of the upper surface to divert the baggage from the conveyer unit transferring path along a diverted direction different from that of the conveyor unit transferring path. The baggage transfer conveyer unit is configured to be mounted over the baggage carousel such that the conveyer transferring path is aligned with the carousel transferring path.

A method and system for identification of an item is provided, wherein the system includes a conveyor belt, a positioning device and a reader operable to receive at least one reading at at least one first antenna from at least one tag attached to the item, the first antenna being adapted to be arranged at a read point along the conveyor belt, wherein the positioning device is configured to retrieve a first position of the item at a first time instant before the first antenna and a second position of the item at a second time instant after the first antenna, the first and second time instants defining a time window, wherein the reader is configured to extract from each reading retrieved by the first antenna a measurement (6) of the phase of the signal transmitted by the tag (5) and perform a data processing of the phase measurements whereby the identification of the item (2) is accomplished.

Disclosed herein is a processing station (10) for registering a passenger's luggage for a trip. The processing station (10) comprises an injector (14) for receiving a piece of luggage associated with the passenger. A plurality of sensors (16a-16i) are associated with the injector. A weighing machine (18) is also associated with the injector (14) for weighing the piece of luggage whilst in the injector (14). The luggage processing (station 10) also comprises a user interface (20) for receiving various inputs for confirming that a passenger has checked-in and to display information to the passenger during processing of the piece of luggage. A controller (28) is associated with the sensors (16a-16i) and weighing machine (18) and the user interface (20). The controller (28) is adapted to accept the piece of luggage if the input received via the passenger's boarding pass or identification card indicate that the passenger has checked-in for the trip, feedback from the sensors (16a-16i) indicates that predetermined criteria are met, and if feedback from the weighing machine (18) indicates that weight of the piece of luggage is within a predetermined limit.

Various embodiments of the present invention are directed towards a system and method for synchronized markers. A multiple-scanner X-ray system includes a belt passing by an upper X-ray scanner and a lower X-ray scanner. An upper belt portion is conveyed in a first direction by the upper X-ray scanner and a lower belt portion is conveyed in a second direction opposite the first direction by the lower X-ray scanner, to obtain upper and lower X-rays. A plurality of X-ray reactive markers are positionally synchronized relative to each other and the belt and conveyed by the belt to cause upper visual marker information, corresponding to a visual appearance of the upper scanned belt section, to be consistent with i) upper X-ray marker information of the upper X-ray, and ii) lower X-ray marker information of the lower X-ray.

This disclosure sets forth a robotic end effector for acquiring and managing an article, such as an item of luggage. The robotic end effector can include an extendable arm comprising a first support member, a capture device comprising a guide member having a plurality of apertures formed therein with a rod slideably supported in each aperture of the guide member. The capture device can further include a biasing member associated with one or more rods and being configured to bias the one or more rods in a first direction relative to the guide member. The article interface system can include an actuatable article engagement device. The actuatable article engagement device can itself include an article interface surface. The actuatable article engagement device can be operated to interface with an article to facilitate movement of the article toward the capture device.

A luggage stowing device includes a second hand luggage detection unit detecting information of pieces of hand luggage transported by a main conveyor, a stowing robot stowing pieces of the hand luggage transported by the main conveyor with respect to two containers, and a stowing computation unit and a stowing control unit controlling the stowing robot such that at least one of the order of priority of the containers for stowing pieces of the hand luggage and the order of stowing pieces of the hand luggage in the containers with respect to the order of transporting pieces of the hand luggage is adjusted on the basis of the information of pieces of the hand luggage detected by the second hand luggage detection unit.

Conveyor system for the transporting of goods items, with one or more transport units, each of which comprises a load carrying means for accommodating a transport container, the transport units being movable along a conveyor track in or opposite to a direction of conveying, with at least one discharge facility for discharging an empty transport container or one laden with a goods item onto the load carrying means of a transport unit, and at least one retrieval facility for retrieving an empty transport container or one laden with a goods item from a load carrying means of a transport unit, where the transport containers comprise first, or small, transport containers with a first length and a first width, which is smaller than the first length, at least two of which may in each case be accommodated next to one another on a load carrying means of a transport unit with their longitudinal extension transverse to the direction of conveying, and where each transport unit is provided with a first retaining means and each small transport container is provided with a second retaining means, the first retaining means being designed to interact with the second retaining means of one or more small transport containers accommodated transversely to the direction of conveying, and to restrict movement of a small transport container in or transversely to the direction of conveying relative to the load carrying means in a predetermined measure; and method for the transporting of goods items using the conveyor system.

A system for handling of luggage or parcel items comprises at least one cart with shelves, at least one item conveyor, such as a sorting conveyor or a luggage reclaim conveyor, and at least one item accumulation unit arranged in proximity to the conveyor. The item accumulation unit is configured as a buffer for storing a plurality of the items on a plurality of accumulation shelves. An item transfer structure is configured to transfer the plurality of the items from the sorting conveyor or from the shelves of the at least one cart into the item accumulation unit. Operation of item accumulation unit and/or the item transfer structure is controlled by a control system.