A drilling end effector is provided for drilling a workpiece having a workpiece surface. The drilling end effector includes a chuck configured to hold a drilling tool, and a nosepiece configured to at least partially surround the drilling tool when the drilling tool is held by the chuck. The nosepiece includes an end portion, at least one suction cup, and at least one suction feed line. The at least one suction cup is fluidly connected to the at least one suction feed line that is configured to be fluidly connected to a suction system. The at least one suction cup is configured to be engaged in physical contact with the workpiece surface and pulled under suction by the suction system such that the at least one suction cup adheres to the workpiece surface to thereby hold the end portion of the nosepiece on the workpiece surface.

Systems and methods to grasp objects using vacuum-actuated end of arm tools may include moving pistons, pinching or stabilizing arms, and suction cups. For example, responsive to application of negative pressure and responsive to grasping an object by a suction cup, a piston may move between a retracted position and an extended position. The movement of the piston may cause corresponding movement of one or more pinching or stabilizing arms around the object to pinch and/or stabilize the object grasped by the suction cup.

Disclosed herein is an apparatus that includes a housing including a first opening and a second opening. The first opening forms a suction connection with a transportable component. The apparatus includes a valve connected with the second opening a channel defined within the housing. The channel extends between the first opening and the second opening. The apparatus includes a vacuum maintaining mechanism disposed within the channel, and the vacuum maintaining mechanism holds a partial vacuum within the channel.

A non-contact suction cup device (100) with flow recycling. The device is based on the recycling flow of fluid through one or more passage(s) (12) provided inside a suction cup chamber (51). The device further optionally includes a flow diverter (4) configured to divert the flow of fluid, and suction means (5) either directly or indirectly attached with the suction cup of the device (100), configured to suck or draw the fluid (11) from the periphery (52). The said passage (12) allow part of fluid to recirculate within the device chamber, hence causing a recycling effect on fluid used to create suction, which provides lower acoustic noise and higher energy efficiency.

A compressible lip for a suction cup has in its engagement area one or more sectional areas, each of which comprises a flow passage capable of forming a flow restriction together with a surface of an object to be engaged by the lip. The flow restriction formed restricts airflow from the sectional area, thus allowing a suction cup provided with such lip to maintain an overall high vacuum level despite of pressure loss in one, or some, of its sectional areas. A suction cup having such compressible lip is also disclosed.

A suction cup can include a body and a skirt connected to a periphery of the body. The body can have an elliptical cross-section with a major axis that is longer than a minor axis. The body can include an aperture extending from a proximal side to a distal side. A stem can be positioned within the primary aperture. The stem can include an air conduit that can allow air to flow from the proximal side of the body.

A vacuum cup is disclosed for use in a programmable motion device. The vacuum cup includes an open inlet for coupling to a vacuum source, and a vacuum cup lip on a portion of the vacuum cup that generally surrounds the open inlet. The vacuum cup lip includes an inner surface that defines the open outlet through which a vacuum may be provided, and includes noise mitigation features on an outer surface of the vacuum cup lip.

A robotic work cell uses an object separating mechanism to disperse bulk objects into a 2D arrangement on a horizontal surface and uses a vision system to generate pick-up (positional) data and rotational orientation data for each sequentially selected target object of the 2D arrangement. A pick-and-place robot mechanism uses the positional data to pick-up each target object and uses the rotational orientation data to reorientate the target object during transfer to a designated hand-off location. A carousel-type robotic end-tool disposed on a 4-axis object-processing robot mechanism rotates a gripper mechanism around a vertical axis to move the target object from the hand-off location to a designated processing location, where an associated processing device performs a desired process (e.g., label application) on the target object. In one embodiment the gripper mechanism is selectively rotatable around a horizontal axis to facilitate processing on opposing surfaces of the target object.

A vacuum cup connected to a robotic arm for picking and placing items is disclosed. The vacuum cup includes one or more walls that defines (i) a first internal cavity and (ii) an opening to the first internal cavity, wherein the first internal cavity is defined at least in part by an interior surface adjacent to the opening to the first internal cavity, the interior surface defining an internal ridge positioned to mechanically engage a material drawn into the first internal cavity through the opening at an angle such that the mechanical engagement resists the material being removed from the first internal cavity via the opening. In response to the item being engaged and the suction system controlling the pressure within the first internal cavity to create a vacuum seal between the vacuum cup and the item, at least part of the item is caused to enter the first internal cavity at least during engagement of the vacuum seal.

A robot hand includes a contactless holding part that has a first air jet port that radially jets air from the center toward the outer circumference, the contactless holding part contactlessly holding a wafer through radial flowing of the air jetted from the first air jet port and generation of a negative pressure due to the air. The robot hand includes also an outer circumferential support part that has a second air jet port that is disposed to be oriented toward the center of the wafer held by the contactless holding part and jets air toward the outer circumferential edge of the wafer, the outer circumferential support part supporting the wafer without movement of the wafer by the air jetted from the second air jet port.