A vacuum tube assembly for removing material is disclosed, including: a vacuum generator configured to generate a vacuum airflow; one or more tubes coupled to the vacuum generator and configured to channel the vacuum airflow; and an actuation mechanism coupled to the one or more tubes, wherein the actuation mechanism is configured to actuate at least one tube from a first position relative to a material stream to a second position relative to the material stream, wherein the first position is farther from the material stream than the second position.

A system and method for operating a transfer robot and a multi-surface gripper to grasp and transfer objects is disclosed.

According to one embodiment, a hand includes a first holding unit, and a second holding unit. The first holding unit includes a plurality of first holding portions capable of holding an article. A plurality of the first holding units is provided in a second direction and is movable independently of each other in a first direction crossing the second direction. The second holding unit is movable in a third direction crossing a plane parallel to the first direction and the second direction. The second holding unit includes a plurality of second holding portions capable of holding the article.

An unloading apparatus includes a holding apparatus configured to hold side a holding target article group in such a manner as to hold the holding target article group and an article subgroup above the holding target article group; a suction apparatus including a plurality of suction parts that are configured to hold a plurality of articles constituting a suction target article group, and are configured to operate independently from each other, the suction target article is an article subgroup in an uppermost level; a first lifting apparatus configured to lift and lower a placement part and the holding apparatus relative to each other; a second lifting apparatus configured to lift and lower the suction apparatus and the holding apparatus relative to each other; and a first transport apparatus configured to receive at least one article subgroup held by the holding apparatus, and transport the at least one received article subgroup.

A system and method for operating a transfer robot to grasp and transfer objects is disclosed. The transport robot includes a robotic gripper assembly having an array of addressable vacuum regions each configured to independently provide a vacuum to grasp a target object. The gripper assembly can be configured and/or operated according to one or more physical characteristics of targeted objects and/or corresponding scenarios.

A system for unloading parcels from a cargo area includes: an extendible conveyor; a transfer conveyor for conveying parcels to the extendible conveyor; and a mobile robot assembly configured to engage and transfer parcels in the cargo area onto the transfer conveyor. The mobile robot assembly repeatedly advances and transfers parcels in the cargo area to the transfer conveyor. As the mobile robot assembly advances within the cargo area, the transfer conveyor and the extendible conveyor follow to provide a pathway along which parcels transferred by the mobile robot assembly can be transferred out of the cargo area. The mobile robot assembly includes: a mobile base for repositioning the mobile robot assembly; a framework mounted to the mobile base; a first robot and a second robot, each mounted for vertical movement with respect to the framework and configured to engage and transfer parcels; and a vision and control subsystem.

A method for performing operations on items (A) transported along a manufacturing line including feeding a sequence of items (A) with respective resting portions along a first feed path onto a first transport surface, arranging a gripping assembly having a first gripping head and a second gripping head, picking up a first item (A) from the first feed path using the first gripping head, rotating the first item (A) around a first rotation axis (R1), performing at least one operation on the item (A) during the rotation thereof around the first rotation axis (R1), swapping the positions of the first gripping head and the second gripping head, resting the first item (A) on a second transport surface and releasing the first item (A), and picking up a further item (A) from the first feed path using the second gripping head.

A handling device for a handling of products (14), in particular food products, which are conveyed by means of a transport device (12), has at least one handling unit (16) comprising a plurality of movably supported movement carriages (18), in particular movers, and a plurality of, in particular movably supported, handling elements (20), in particular vacuum grippers, wherein on each movement carriage (18) respectively at least one handling element (20) is arranged, and has at least one carrier structure (22), which in particular extends at least partially transversally over the transport device (12) and has at least one carrier element (24) on which the movement carriages (18) are supported in such a way that they are drivable, independently from each other in terms of speed and/or position, at least along a direction (28) running at least substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis (26) of the carrier element (24), the handling elements (20) being supported on the movement carriages (18) so as to be movable, in particular individually movable, the handling elements (20) in each case having a movement axis (30, 32) that extends transversally to the longitudinal axis (26) of the carrier element (24), and/or the carrier structure (22) comprising at least one bearing unit (34), in particular a rotary bearing unit and/or a linear bearing unit, by means of which the carrier element (24), in particular together with the movement carriages (18) arranged thereon, is supported so as to be vertically movable, wherein for a movement of the handling elements (20) relative to the movement carriages (18), the movement axes (30) of the handling elements (20) in each case run at least substantially parallel to a product support surface (60) of the transport device (12), wherein the handling device further comprises at least one electromagnetic drive unit (68) for an individual movement of the movement carriages (18) relative to the carrier element (24), the electromagnetic drive unit (68) being realized as a linear motor system, wherein the handling unit (16) comprises fluidic drives (42), in particular hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders, or electromagnetic drives, in particular electromagnetic drives assigned to a further linear motor system of the handling device, for a translational movement of the handling elements (20) along the respective movement axis (30) of the handling elements (20).

A reversing system for reversing a packing box, an upper surface of which is opened, and from which products are withdrawn, such that a lower surface of the reversed empty packing box is disposed above. A first conveyor transfers an empty packing box, an upper surface of which is opened, from a position at which products are withdrawn from the packing box to a position at which the packing box is reversed. A turning device holds the packing box to be turned about a horizontal rotation axis, and reverses the packing box. A second conveyor carries the reversed packing box to a position at which the bottom surface is opened. The turning device holds two sides, facing each other, among sides of the packing box, and turns and reverses the packing pox using a portion between the holding locations of the two held sides as a rotation axis.

Actuating an air conveyor device is disclosed, including: causing an airflow to be generated by an airflow generator of an air conveyor device, wherein the airflow generator is configured to cause the airflow to enter an intake port of the air conveyor device and exit from an outlet port of the air conveyor device in response to receiving air at an air input port of the air conveyor device; causing a target object to be captured by the air conveyor device using the airflow; activating a positioning actuator mechanism to position the air conveyor device; and causing the target object to be ejected from the air conveyor device.