In an article transfer facility, a drive portion includes a first Z-axis drive portion to move a holding portion in a Z direction, a first X-axis drive portion configured to move the holding portion in an X direction, a first Y-axis drive portion configured to move the holding portion in a Y direction, and a second X-axis drive portion configured to move a placement portion in the X direction. A control portion executes first control in which an article at a first position is placed on the placement portion, and second control in which the article placed on the placement portion is arranged at a second position. In the first control, the drive portion is controlled such that the holding portion picks up the article at the first position and moves to a position on an upper side of the placement portion, and thereafter releases the article to place the article on the placement portion.

Mass transfer tools and methods for high density transfer of arrays of micro devices are described. In an embodiment, a mass transfer tool includes a micro pick up array with an array of transfer heads arranged in clusters. The clusters of transfer heads can be used to pick up a high density group of micro devices followed by sequential placement onto a receiving substrate.

Several blister packs are picked simultaneously from pick positions, where they are arranged next to each other in a first row, moved, and placed simultaneously in several place positions. In the place positions, the blister packs are also arranged next to each other in a second row, which is parallel to the first row of the blister packs in the pick positions. The blister packs are placed in the place positions with a rotation of 180° around their centers in comparison to their orientation in the pick positions. The second row of blister packs in the place positions is laterally offset in the direction of the second row relative to the first row of blister packs in the pick positions.

A method for transporting structural elements of packagings includes transferring a group of structural elements to a holding device, wherein each structural element of the group of structural elements is received by an associated holding element of the holding device after the transfer, and adjusting the holding elements relative to each other such that the structural elements of the group of structural elements received by the holding elements are disposed before the adjusting in a first format in which the structural elements of the group of structural elements are arranged in a plan view in a first spacing grid relative to each other, and are disposed after the adjusting in a second format in which the structural elements of the group of structural elements are arranged in the plan view in a second spacing grid relative to each other, the second spacing grid being different from the first spacing grid.

This disclosure presents a manipulator for lifting objects and an upwards open container within which the objects are at least partly arranged. The manipulator includes a first object engaging device for engaging a first object, a second object engaging device for engaging a second object. The manipulation is configured for forcing the first and second objects apart when engaged by the first and second object engaging devices, such that the objects exert an internal force on the container. The disclosure also presents a method for lifting objects and an upwards open container.

A variable pitch device includes a body, a drive unit fixed to the body, a plurality of movable fingers disposed movably along a longitudinal direction of the body, and a driving force transmission mechanism that transmits a driving force of the drive unit to the movable fingers. The driving force transmission mechanism is formed of a connecting block connected to an end block driven in a vertical direction, a cam plate accommodated in the body and connected to the connecting block, and four finger pins inserted through first to fourth cam grooves of the cam plate. The finger pins are disposed movably in the longitudinal direction along guide holes of the body and connected to the movable fingers.

An egg-orienting station for an apparatus for transporting eggs and packaging them in egg packs has a plurality of tracks, which are arranged parallel to one another in the conveying direction, and a transfer region for transferring the eggs to a conveyor belt. An adjustment device is arranged upstream of the transfer region, the adjustment device being used to insert the eggs, optionally by way of the bottom or of the top of said eggs, in egg holders of the first conveyor belt.

A transfer device to transfer articles by removing the articles from a removal zone and depositing the articles in a discharge zone, wherein a support plane and a deposit direction substantially perpendicular to the support plane are defined at the discharge zone. The transfer device includes a gripping head with retention elements, each for retaining a respective article, and a movement mechanism configured to move at least one retention element with respect to at least one other retention element in a staggering direction having a non-null component parallel with the deposit direction.

An article accumulating apparatus includes a transport part configured to place and transport an article on a transporting surface, and a transfer part configured to suction and hold the article on the transporting surface and move it. The transfer part suctions and holds the article to be in an inclined state in which the downstream side of the article in a transporting direction of the transport part is inclined higher than the upstream side thereof, and moves the article in the inclined state downstream in the transporting direction.

A transport device has a position detection portion, a holding portion attached to an arm, a driving portion to drive the holding portion and the arm, and a control portion. A control portion controls the position detection portion and the driving portion to perform, as one cycle, a procedure to detect a position of a parcel, select parcels based on a predetermined condition, and set priority for the selected parcels, and a procedure to refer to a result of the detection, and cause the holding portion to take out one or more parcels from the accumulation portion in accordance with the priority to transport the parcels to a predetermined location, and excludes, from parcels to be taken out, a second parcel that is present within a predetermined distance from a first parcel and has priority lower than the priority of the first parcel, during the one cycle.