The present subject matter relates to article carriers for use in grading apparatus and in particular, but not exclusively, for use in grading fruit. The present subject matter provides an article carrying apparatus comprising a plurality of carrier lanes each for receiving and conveying a number of articles; one or more diverters arranged to control the distribution of received articles into the lanes; a sensor arranged to determine a capacity use parameter for each lane; and a controller arranged to control the position of each diverter dependent on a difference between combined determined capacity use parameters and combined target capacity use parameters for lanes to one side of said diverter.

A transporting system and method for a linear motor conveyor system, wherein the conveyor system includes at least one moving element and at least one track on which the moving element moves, the transporting system including: a rotatable element; a motor for rotating the rotatable element; a coupler connected to the rotatable element, wherein the coupler is configured to engage with the moving element when the coupler is positioned in a predetermined relationship with the moving element; and a controller configured to: operatively connect with the linear motor conveyor system; and control at least one of the moving element and the rotatable element so that the coupler is positioned in the predetermined relationship with the moving element on the track such that the coupler strips the moving element off the track.

An assembly and method thereof creates a stack of objects. The assembly has a diverter to move objects having a desired size from a first conveyor to a second conveyor. The diverter utilizes diversion plates. The second conveyor transfers the objects to an accumulator. The objects that are accumulated are squared and then moved to a raised position. A lift assembly then lifts the accumulated objects that were square and translates the objects to a queuing assembly. The process repeats itself to construct a stack of objects with multiple layers of objects. The created stack of objects may then be transferred to a subsequent destination for further use or processing.

A modular deflection device comprises a housing and at least two steering elements for applying a steering action on discrete products moving along a conveyor plane. Each steering element has a swivel section formed about a swivel axis with an associated steering section. A drive with a drive element is provided in the housing for each steering element, each drive element being coupled or capable of being coupled to the swivel section of the associated steering element in such a way that the steering element is set into a swivelling movement about the swivel axis by an advancing movement of the drive element. The steering elements are arranged with their swivel sections outside the housing and a section of each drive element can be pushed in an advancing movement along a straight advancing direction with respect to the housing through its own passage opening leading out of the housing.

A method of processing objects using a programmable motion device is disclosed. The method includes the steps of providing an input conveyance system by which input bins of objects may be provided to a processing station that includes the programmable motion device that includes an end effector, perceiving at the processing station identifying indicia representative of an identity of a plurality of objects at an input area of the input conveyance system, grasping the an acquired object using the end effector, moving the acquired object toward an identified processing container using the programmable motion device, the identified processing container being associated with the identifying indicia and said identified processing container being provided as one of a plurality of processing containers at the processing station, and providing an output conveyance system in communication with the processing station, by which processing containers that contain processed objects may be provided.

A conveyor assembly is provided with one or more partitions to divide or segment one or more conveyor rows. The assembly comprises a conveyor including an inlet and an outlet, with conveyor transport surface extending between the inlet and the outlet, which may by roller wheels. A plurality of retainers are supported by the conveyor in spaced relation with at least one partition extending between the retainers. Mounting interfaces between the retainers and the at least one partition facilitate removable support of each partition by the retainers.

An improved swing arm manipulator is provided for displacing objects on an object carrier surface of an object carrier. The swing arm manipulator includes a swing arm rotatable around a rotation axis transverse to the object carrier surface. The swing arm includes a hollow elongate body and at least one extension part. The at least one extension part has an at least substantially cylindrical portion with which it is rotatably arranged in a hollow inner space of the hollow elongate body and has an at least substantially wedge shaped portion connected thereto, that extends towards the object carrier surface at an angle with respect to a surface normal of the object carrier surface. The improved swing arm manipulator is better arranged to manipulate objects of various sizes, while mitigating the risk that objects get stuck and/or are damaged.

In a case where an article (A) is advanced along an inclined transport direction (C) by use of an article transverse-pushing body (4) configured to move along a main transport direction (T) and to be movable in a width direction (W) perpendicular to the main transport direction (T), the article transverse-pushing body (4) is accelerated in the width direction (W) in a sorting region (B) and then inertially moved such that the article transverse-pushing body (4) thus moving inertially is brought into contact with the article (A).

A system for controlling a flow of articles includes an infeed conveyor providing a plurality of articles to the system and conveying articles in a feed direction. A reversible conveyor is at least partially contiguous with and parallel to the infeed conveyor and provides articles to a first outfeed conveyor providing the plurality of articles in the feed direction to a first downstream operation or a second outfeed conveyor providing the plurality of articles in a direction opposite the feed direction to a second downstream operation.

The present invention provides a conveyor device and a conveyor sensor capable of detecting various types of information on an object. The conveyor device that conveys the object to a predetermined conveyance place includes a conveyor sensor that detects the information of the object. The conveyor sensor includes a plurality of sensor members, and the plurality of sensor members can individually detect the presence of the object and is arranged side by side in a direction intersecting the conveying direction of the object.