An apparatus for sorting and stacking slab-shaped elements has an inlet line; plural suction gripping units; a sorting carousel rotatable around an axis and including multiple carousel arms mutually solidly constrained and each bearing a respective one of the plurality suction gripping units; a plurality of seats for receiving the slab-shaped elements, forming stacks thereof; and a support crown solidly constrained to a frame. The carousel axis and an axis of the support crown coincide with one another. Each carousel arm is supported by the support crown at or in proximity of a respective free end. A first slab-shaped element from the inlet line can be gripped by a first one of the suction gripping units, rotated by a first one of the carousel arms which bears the first suction gripping unit, and released by the first suction gripping unit on a first of the seats.

An apparatus for sorting and stacking slab-shaped elements has an inlet line; plural suction gripping units; a sorting carousel rotatable around an axis and including multiple carousel arms mutually solidly constrained and each bearing a respective one of the plurality suction gripping units; a plurality of seats for receiving the slab-shaped elements, forming stacks thereof; and a support crown solidly constrained to a frame. The carousel axis and an axis of the support crown coincide with one another. Each carousel arm is supported by the support crown at or in proximity of a respective free end. A first slab-shaped element from the inlet line can be gripped by a first one of the suction gripping units, rotated by a first one of the carousel arms which bears the first suction gripping unit, and released by the first suction gripping unit on a first of the seats.

A stacking apparatus for preparing food portions comprises at least one product support movable between a feed position and a depositing position, wherein, in the feed position of the product support, a part portion of the food portion to be prepared can be conveyed along a conveying direction onto a support surface of the product support, and wherein the stacking apparatus is configured to place the part portion conveyed onto the product support beneath the product support by moving the product support into the depositing position, in particular to stack the part portion conveyed onto the product support on a previously placed part portion. In the product support, at least one pneumatic channel is furthermore formed that can be connected to a device for generating a pressure difference and that has at least one orifice into the support surface.

A stacking apparatus for preparing food portions comprises at least one product support movable between a feed position and a depositing position, wherein, in the feed position of the product support, a part portion of the food portion to be prepared can be conveyed along a conveying direction onto a support surface of the product support, and wherein the stacking apparatus is configured to place the part portion conveyed onto the product support beneath the product support by moving the product support into the depositing position, in particular to stack the part portion conveyed onto the product support on a previously placed part portion. In the product support, at least one pneumatic channel is furthermore formed that can be connected to a device for generating a pressure difference and that has at least one orifice into the support surface.

A handling device according to an embodiment has an arm, a holder, a storage, and a controller. The arm includes at least one joint. The holder is attached to the arm and is configured to hold an object. The storage stores a function map including at least one of information about holdable positions of the holder and information about possible postures of the holder. The detector is configured to detect information about the object. The controller is configured to generate holdable candidate points on the basis of the information detected by the detector, to search the function map for a position in an environment in which the object is present, the position being associated with the generated holdable candidate points, and to determine a holding posture of the holder on the basis of the searched position. The function map associates a manipulability with each position in the environment in which the object is present. The manipulability is a parameter calculated from at least one joint angle of the holder.

A handling device according to an embodiment has an arm, a holder, a storage, and a controller. The arm includes at least one joint. The holder is attached to the arm and is configured to hold an object. The storage stores a function map including at least one of information about holdable positions of the holder and information about possible postures of the holder. The detector is configured to detect information about the object. The controller is configured to generate holdable candidate points on the basis of the information detected by the detector, to search the function map for a position in an environment in which the object is present, the position being associated with the generated holdable candidate points, and to determine a holding posture of the holder on the basis of the searched position. The function map associates a manipulability with each position in the environment in which the object is present. The manipulability is a parameter calculated from at least one joint angle of the holder.

The invention provides an improved record making system, the system having a puck former having an outlet, the puck former being movable between an automatic position and a semi-automatic position and adapted to periodically produce a puck and to deliver the puck to the outlet. The system further has a record former having a puck receiver, the record former adapted, upon delivery of the puck to the puck receiver, to automatically produce a record. The record former is positioned relative to the puck former and adapted such that, when the puck former is in the automatic position, the outlet of the puck former is coterminous with the puck receiver of the record former. When the puck former is in the semi-automatic position, the puck receiver is accessible by an operator to permit manual puck feeding.

The invention provides an improved record making system, the system having a puck former having an outlet, the puck former being movable between an automatic position and a semi-automatic position and adapted to periodically produce a puck and to deliver the puck to the outlet. The system further has a record former having a puck receiver, the record former adapted, upon delivery of the puck to the puck receiver, to automatically produce a record. The record former is positioned relative to the puck former and adapted such that, when the puck former is in the automatic position, the outlet of the puck former is coterminous with the puck receiver of the record former. When the puck former is in the semi-automatic position, the puck receiver is accessible by an operator to permit manual puck feeding.

A system is provided comprising a carton conveyor and a bypass carton accumulator adjacent to, and interfaced with, the carton conveyor. The bypass carton accumulator may comprise: a carton pick apparatus comprising a carton pick head; at least one stop device comprising a stopper movable between a first and a second position; and a storage apparatus. When in the first position, the stopper does not interfere with the flow of cartons along the conveyor and when in the second position, the stopper engages with a carton to stop a flow of cartons along the conveyor. The carton pick apparatus may be configured to pick up via the carton pick head a set of cartons from a pick-up zone of the carton conveyor after the stopper has moved to its second position and place the set of cartons in the storage apparatus.

A lamination device that laminates a plurality of types of workpieces includes a plurality of supply mechanisms that supply a workpiece to each of a plurality of supply positions, a movement mechanism including a stator of a linear motor having a predetermined traveling track and a mover of a linear motor that is movable between a plurality of the supply positions along a traveling track, and a control unit that controls at least the mover. The mover includes a lamination stage for laminating the workpiece. The control unit corrects a relative position of the workpiece supplied to the supply positions with respect to the lamination stage, laminates the workpiece whose relative position is corrected on the lamination stage, and controls the mover so as to move to a next one of the supply positions after lamination of the workpiece.