Pick and throw harvesting

A harvester for a food processing system, in the food processing system food items being processed are carried on a conveyor, the food processing system including a scanning system for scanning the food items to generate data pertaining to physical specifications of the food items, including sizes and shapes of the food items and locations of the food items on the conveyor, the harvester picking up the food items from the conveyor and delivering the food items at one or more desired locations, the harvester comprising:

• (a) a pickup system for picking up the food items from the conveyor, comprising:
• a nozzle having an inlet configuration to receive the food items from the conveyor;
• and
• a vacuum source for creating a vacuum at the nozzle;
• (b) a discharge system in flow communication with the nozzle to launch the food items in a desired trajectory so that the food items travel through the air exterior of any conduit;
• (c) an actuator to position the nozzle in a desired position relative to the food items to facilitate picking up the food items with the nozzle, the actuator automatically rotating the nozzle about an upright axis to aim the discharge system at a desired angular orientation about the upright axis;
• and
• (d) a control system for receiving the data from the scanning system pertaining to the physical specifications of the food items, including the sizes and the shapes of the food items and the locations of the food items on the conveyor, and the control system controlling the actuator to position the nozzle with respect to the food items to enable the nozzle to pick up the food items from the conveyor and positioning the discharge system to direct the food items at the trajectory to place the food items at the one or more desired locations away from the conveyor while the nozzle is capable of remaining located above the conveyor while the discharge system launches the food items, the control system controlling the actuator to rotate the nozzle based on the data received from the scanning system.

A system for producing cut portions from variably sized and shaped food items based on desired physical specifications of the cut portions and placing the cut portions based on the desired physical specifications of the cut portions at one or more desired locations, comprising:

• (a) a conveyor system for conveying the food items;
• (b) a scanning system for scanning the food items and generating data pertaining to the physical specifications of the cut portions including sizes and shapes of the food items and locations of the food items on the conveyor system;
• (c) a cutting system for cutting the cut portions from the food items based on the desired physical specifications of the cut portions;
• (d) a pickup system for picking up the cut portions from the conveyor system, comprising:
• a nozzle having an inlet configured to receive the cut portions from the conveyor system;
• and
• a vacuum source generating a vacuum at the inlet;
• (e) a discharge system in flow communication with the nozzle to launch the cut portions in a desired trajectory so that the cut portions travel through the air exterior of any conduit;
• (f) an actuator coupled to the nozzle to place the nozzle in position relative to the cut portions to facilitate picking up the cut portions with the nozzle, the actuator automatically rotating the nozzle about an upright axis to aim the discharge system at a desired angular orientation about the upright axis;
• and
• (g) a control system:
• processing the data to determine the sizes and the shapes of the food items and the locations of the food items on the conveyor system;
• determining cutting paths to cut the food items to achieve the desired physical specifications of the cut portions;
• directing the cutting system to perform cutting of the food items along the cutting paths;
• directing the actuator to position the nozzle with respect to the food items to enable the nozzle to pick up the cut portions;
• and
• positioning the discharge system to launch the cut portions in the trajectory to deliver the cut portions at the one or more desired locations away from the conveyor system while the nozzle is capable of remaining located above the conveyor system, wherein positioning the discharge system includes controlling the actuator to rotate the nozzle based on the data received from the scanning system.

A harvester for harvesting work items being carried on a conveyor, the harvester removing the work items from the conveyor and delivering the work items at desired locations, the harvester comprising:

• (a) a pickup system for picking up the work items from the conveyor, comprising:
• a nozzle for picking up the work items from the conveyor;
• a ballistic launcher in flow communication with the nozzle to launch the work items in a desired trajectory so that the work items travel through the air exterior of any conduit to deliver the work items to the desired locations;
• and
• a vacuum source for creating a vacuum at the nozzle sufficient to cause the work items to enter the nozzle and be launched from the ballistic launcher;
• (b) an actuator to position the nozzle in a desired position relative to the work items to facilitate picking up the work items with the nozzle, the actuator automatically rotating the nozzle about an upright axis to aim the ballistic launcher at a desired angular orientation about the upright axis;
• and
• (c) a control system controlling the actuator to position the nozzle with respect to the work items to facilitate the nozzle picking up the work items from the conveyor and positioning the ballistic launcher to deliver the work items at the desired locations away from the conveyor, the control system configured to receive data and to control the actuator to rotate the nozzle based on the data.