Disclosed herein are systems and methods for efficiently and economically manufacturing molded polymer products such as those that require a two-shot, two-material injection molding process, with complex geometries and incorporate metal components such as inserts. The systems and methods include compact manufacturing cells and processes of operating such manufacturing cells. The manufacturing cells include a single injection molding machine with two molds arranged to simultaneously operate both molds. The manufacturing cell is arranged to be fully automated so that it is operative without the need for intervention or management from dedicated personnel. Such automation includes the automated sorting and placement of metal inserts into the injection molding machine, the automated removal of the product after the first molding stage and second molding stage, the automated inspection of every finished product, the automated sorting of conforming and rejected products, and the automated packaging of finished product for shipment to end user.

A method for decorative molding capable of reducing a preparation time at the time of replacing a mold and expecting improvement in positioning accuracy of a decorative pattern in a molded article includes supplying a film on which a decorative pattern is formed between a first mold and a second mold in a mold open state of a mold, imaging a mold-side alignment mark recorded in the mold and a film-side alignment mark recorded in the film by a camera, positioning the film with respect to the mold by moving the film so that the film-side alignment mark comes close to the mold-side alignment mark, injecting resin into the mold in a mold closed state in which the film is sandwiched between the first mold and the second mold and cooling the resin to form a molded article and opening the mold and taking out the molded article in which the decorative pattern of the film is transferred to the surface.

A controller includes a mold movement control unit that moves a movable mold between a first position separated from a fixed mold and a second position at which mold closing is completed; a determining unit determines the presence of abnormalities in at least one of the movable mold and the fixed mold on the basis of inspection information acquired from at least one of the movable mold and the fixed mold and outputs a confirmation signal related to the presence of abnormalities; and a mold stopping unit that stops movement of the movable mold on the basis of whether the confirmation signal output from the determining unit is acquired while a safety confirmation condition is satisfied after the mold movement control unit starts moving the movable mold from the first position toward the second position.

The invention relates to a method for checking pipette tips comprising the following steps: a) providing pipette tips in a first carrier; b) receiving pipette tips from the first carrier via a holder device; c) capturing first image data using a first image-capturing device, which has an optical axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the pipette tips and directed towards the respective outlet opening of the pipette tips; d) capturing second image data using a second image-capturing device, which has an optical axis transverse to the longitudinal axis of the pipette tips and directed towards the sub-segments of the pipette tip casing surfaces facing the second image-capturing device; e) determining whether the image data lies within predefined acceptability limits; f) discarding the pipette tips, for which the image data falls outside the acceptability limits, in a waste container; g) transferring the pipette tips, for which the image data lies within the acceptability limits, into a second carrier; wherein the second image data of multiple pipette tips is simultaneously captured in step d).

A robot system includes an image pickup apparatus that picks up images of a plurality of kinds of articles conveyed by a conveyor; an article controlling portion that controls time and a position of each of the plurality of kinds of articles being supplied onto the conveyor, to limit kinds of articles to be image-picked-up by the image pickup apparatus in advance; a detecting portion that detects the plurality of kinds of articles from among images picked up by the image pickup apparatus, on the basis of the kinds of articles limited in advance by the article controlling portion; and a robot that is configured to take out the plurality of kinds of articles detected by the detecting portion from the conveyor.

In an injection molding system, a compression ratio of an image acquired by a molded article image acquisition means is changed based on a physical quantity related to injection molding and stored in a storage means. Thus, an image of a molded article is compressed and stored according to the compression ratio obtained based on the physical quantity.

It is proposed to carry out an optical inspection of preforms (7) by means of at least one camera device (2, 3, 13), in such a way that the preforms (7) are in a relative position to each other that is unchanged in comparison with the injection molding operation.

A method for manufacturing a molded part while changing between multiple molds including a first ejecting step of opening a first mold and ejecting the molded part from the first mold, a checking step of checking the ejected molded part to determine if the molded part is acceptable, a first injecting step of closing the first mold and performing injection into the first mold, a second ejecting step of, where the ejected molded part is determined to be acceptable, changing the first mold to a second mold and ejecting the molded part from the second mold after the first injecting step, and a third ejecting step of, in a case where the molded part ejected in the first ejecting step is determined to be non-acceptable, not changing the first mold to the second mold and ejecting the molded part from the first mold.

A coinjection molded multi-layer container includes an inner layer, an outer layer, and a barrier layer. The inner layer includes a first polymeric material and forms an inside surface of the container. The outer layer includes the first polymeric material and forms an outside surface of the container. The barrier layer is located between the inner layer and the outer layer and includes a second polymeric material less permeable to gas than the first polymeric material. The barrier layer is biased toward the inside surface or the outside surface such that the inner layer and the outer layer have different thicknesses.

A manufacturing method of a semiconductor device includes the steps of: preparing a lead frame; mounting a plurality of semiconductor chips on the lead frame; and sealing one portion of the lead frame with a sealing resin. The resin-sealing step includes the step of: disposing the lead frame, molds having main surfaces on which cavity parts are formed, the lead frame being disposed on the main surface of the heated molds; injecting a resin in the main surfaces of the heated molds so as to seal the one portion of the lead frame with the sealing resin; and taking out the lead frame from the heated molds. In the taking-out step, while the lead frame is taken out, the main surfaces of the molds are inspected by using a sensor, and the sensor is cooled and formed integrally with an arm used for taking out the lead frame.