A vacuum apparatus includes: a chamber; and a transfer robot transferring a processing object into the chamber, wherein the transfer robot includes an arm portion, a support portion provided at a tip of the arm portion and having a lower thermal conductivity than the arm portion, a plate provided between the support portion and the processing object and having a higher thermal conductivity than the support portion, and a support pad provided on the support portion and supporting the processing object by being in contact with the processing object while separating the processing object from the plate, a contact region allowing the support portion and the plate to be in contact with each other therein and a space region separated the support portion and the plate from each other are provided between the support portion and the plate, and the plate includes a projection configured as the contact region.

The invention relates to a robotic method for loading cases on a packaging line from cases contained in a closed parallelepiped container and wherein it is proceeded with the loading of the packaging line, after opening of the container (Ca) by: /d/ insertion of a first jaw (30) of the clamp between the first face (F1) of the container and the first case (Et1) of the row of cases and, insertion of a second jaw (31) of the clamp between the last case (Etd) of the row of cases and the second face (F2) of the container, and approach of the jaws until seizing up the row of cases, /e/ piloting of the robotic arm so as to extract the row of cases from the container grasped by the motor-driven clamp (3) and load the packaging line (Lg) with the row of cases.

A workpiece rotation control system on a paneling machine (1) is described, comprising a rotator device (3) and which is served by a manipulator device (5) with a gripper (7) on a rotating axis (9) designed to arrange a workpiece of material to be machined on a rotating element (11) of this rotating device (3), which comprises first measuring means (13) of an angular position of the rotating axis (9) of the gripper (7) and the rotating device which comprises second means for measuring an angular position of the rotating element (11) of the rotating device (3), and processing means provided for comparatively comparing a value of an angular position measured by the first measuring means (13) with at least a value of an angular position measured by the second measuring means. A paneling machine comprising this system is also described.

An object processing system is disclosed that includes a plurality of track sections, and a plurality of remotely actuatable carriers for controlled movement along at least portions of the plurality of track sections, wherein each of the remotely controllable carriers is adapted to support and transport an object processing bin.

A robotic system includes a robot having a picking arm to grasp an inventory item and a shuttle. The shuttle includes a platform adapted to receive the inventory item from the picking arm of the robot. The platform is moveable between a pick-up location located substantially adjacent to the robot and an end location spaced a distance apart from the pick-up location. The system improves efficiency as transportation of the item from the pick-up location to the end location is divided between the robot and the shuttle.

A gripping method is for gripping an object using a gripping mechanism including a roller and a frame that houses the roller. The gripping method includes a first stage and a second stage. In the first stage, the gripping mechanism moves relative to the object such that a first portion of the object is gripped between an outer surface of the roller and an inner surface of the frame. In the second stage, the gripping mechanism further moves relative to the object such that the roller is lifted by a second portion of the object before gripping of the object is released.

An inverter manufacturing cell includes a table including a base, a frame configured to receive a work piece, and at least one pivotable lift arm attached to the base and to the frame. The pivotable lift arm is configured to pivot relative to the base about at least one axis such that the frame and work piece rotate from a first, generally horizontal position to a second, generally vertical position. After rotating to the second, vertical position, the frame is configured to slide such that the frame and work piece further rotate to a third, generally horizontal position wherein the frame and work piece are inverted relative to the first, generally horizontal position.

A system includes an equipment front end module chamber, alignment pedestals housed within the equipment front end module chamber, and a load/unload robot at least partially housed within the equipment front end module chamber. The alignment pedestals include a first alignment pedestal having a first support surface and a second alignment pedestal having a second support surface, and the first support surface has a vertical offset and an overlap region having at least a partial overlap relative to the second support surface. The load/unload robot includes an arm, and vertically arranged blades attached to the arm. The vertically arranged blades include an upper blade configured to transfer a first substrate to the first alignment pedestal and a lower blade configured to transfer a second substrate to the second alignment pedestal.

A mat washing system includes: a structural mainframe; a mat washing station; a conveyor structured to translate a mat, while the mat is an upright position, along the structural mainframe through the mat washing station; and a mat loading swing arm on the structural mainframe and structured to grip a fouled mat, which in use is stacked on or adjacent a mat loading zone of the structural mainframe, and tilt the fouled mat onto the conveyor into the upright position. A method involves using a mat washing system to wash a fouled mat.

The system can include: a container 110, a set of sensors 120, and a controller 130. The system can optionally include a robot 140. However, the system 100 can additionally or alternatively include any other suitable set of components. The system functions to monitor and/or maintain a fullness level of a container. The system can additionally or alternatively function to enable robotic picking out of the container (e.g., in a pick-and-place setting). The system can additionally function to maintain candidate objects within reach of the robot's end effector to increase robot uptime while minimizing the extent of the robot's required motion (e.g., in the z-axis).