Provided are a sorting vehicle, a goods sorting system and a goods sorting method. The sorting vehicle includes a vehicle body, a belt-type conveying mechanism, an enclosing mechanism and a processor. The belt-type conveying mechanism includes a roller-type drive mechanism disposed on the vehicle body and an endless conveyor belt disposed on a roller of the roller-type drive mechanism. The moving direction of the endless conveyor belt is perpendicular to the traveling direction of the vehicle body. The enclosing mechanism is partially or entirely disposed on the endless conveyor belt, and is configured to form at least one enclosing region above the vehicle body. The processor is configured to control the roller-type drive mechanism to drive the endless conveyor belt to move a preset distance to complete unloading of the goods within the enclosing region; and control the roller-type drive mechanism to complete resetting of the enclosing region.

A robot and a robot-based container storage and removal method. The robot comprises: a master control processing unit (110), a pick-and-place mechanism (120) and a marker detection unit (130), wherein according to target storage and removal position information of a target inventory container, the master control processing unit (110) controls a robot body to move to a first horizontal position and controls the pick-and-place mechanism (120) to move to a first height position; when the robot body and the pick-and-place mechanism (120) stop moving, the marker detection unit (130) determines a target pick-and-place marker from a target inventory support to which the target inventory container belongs; and the master control processing unit (110) also calibrates the position of the pick-and-place mechanism (120) according to the position of the target pick-and-place marker, so as to control the calibrated pick-and-place mechanism (120) to perform a storage operation or a removal operation on the target inventory container. By means of the solution, a pick-and-place position of a pick-and-place mechanism (120) of the robot can be precisely positioned and moved, such that the pick-and-place mechanism (120) can quickly and accurately store or remove a target inventory container.

In a self-propelled construction machine comprising a machine frame with a longitudinal axis, a controller for the travelling and milling operation, a height-adjustable working drum, and a slewable transport conveyor: that the control system, at least as a function of a virtual trajectory for positioning the transport conveyor which is freely specifiable in a stationary coordinate system that is independent of the position and alignment of the machine frame, controls, by means of open-loop control or closed-loop control, at least the slewing angle of the transport conveyor automatically in such a fashion that a reference point of the transport conveyor always remains on the specified trajectory in the case of a change in position of the machine frame within the coordinate system.

A system and method for operating robotic pallet transportation carts and providing uniform spacing between pallets of goods, to improve the vertical alignment of the gaps between the pallets of a multilevel commercial warehouse rack. Indicators are positioned along a storage lane, such as on side walls of cart support rail structures, on the left and/or right sides with respect to the pallet transportation cart. The cart has one or more sensors (optical, magnetic and otherwise), such as on a side of the cart to detect the indicators on the side of the lane. The cart is programmed to count the indicators and lower the pallet of goods after sensing a selected indicator number. By spacing the indicators an appropriate distance apart, the pallets can be arranged to have vertically aligned gaps, even if there are minor variations in the length of pallets of goods.

Production system for series production of in particular motor vehicles, includes a container storage area storing containers containing components for production, production shelves, remote from container storage area, from which workers remove components from containers. Transport for transporting containers from container storage area to production shelves. Transport has automated guided vehicle (AGV) on which transport shelf is situated and designed so containers are automatically delivered from transport shelf to production shelves in a conveying direction (delivery direction). Handling device situated on AGV, has a base body and a handling unit situated on base body. Handling unit removes containers from transport shelf in conveying direction and delivering containers to production shelf. Relative to base body, handling unit is linearly adjustable along first linear adjustment axis in conveying direction, along a second linear adjustment axis transverse to conveying direction, height-adjustable along a third adjustment axis, and rotatable about vertical fourth adjustment axis.

An automatic storage and retrieval system includes: a delivery vehicle; a storage container carried by the delivery vehicle; and an unloading station for unloading an item from the storage container while it is being carried by the delivery vehicle. The unloading station includes: an unloading device; and a destination conveyor configured to convey the item to a target destination, wherein the unloading device is configured to move the item through a side opening of the storage container to the destination conveyor.

A method of inverting workpieces in a mass production process includes: advancing an end effector in electronic synchronization with advancement of a carrier to synchronize arrival of the carrier at a stop position with arrival of the end effector at an unloading position, in which the end effector is in alignment with a workpiece held by the carrier for engaging the workpiece; while the end effector is in engagement with the workpiece, retracting the end effector away from the carrier to unload the workpiece from the carrier and advancing the end effector back toward the carrier to load the workpiece back into the carrier; and rotating the end effector relative to the carrier to invert the workpiece in electronic synchronization with the retracting and advancing of the end effector for loading the workpiece back into the carrier when inverted.

Devices, systems, and methods for autonomously packing folded laundry articles into a container are described. A packing system includes a refillable cartridge, a queue conveyor having one or more folded laundry articles and stacks of folded laundry articles disposed thereon, at least one retractable conveyor loading end between the refillable cartridge and the queue conveyor for loading the folded laundry articles into the refillable cartridge, a driven lifter for selectively raising and lowering the into and out of the container, and a controller in operative configuration with processors and drives of all of the foregoing and one or more sensors detecting a fill height of the refillable cartridge. The refillable cartridge includes a removable receiving surface that moves from a closed position to an open position during loading of the folded laundry by the retractable conveyor and unloading of the folded laundry into the container.

An article carousel may be configured for use with a track system. The article carousel may include a frame and a plate configured for movement with respect to the frame. The plate may include one or more carriers configured to receive one or more trolleys. Movement of the plate may enable each carrier to be aligned with the track system. During alignment, one or more trolleys may be transferred between each carrier and the track system.

A feed device, planar washing machine and method. The feed device (15) comprises roll arrangement (21) provided with support rolls (16, 17) and an alignment roll (18). An endless belt (13) is arranged around the rolls. The alignment roll can be moved (C) in order to guide the feed belt to move into desired direction when it is moved laterally.