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US 12,426,550 B2Granted
Apparatus and method for placing bulbs
AssigneeIG Specials B.V.
InventorsWim Struijk, Wim Van Der El, Andrew Wagner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
There is discussed a method of picking and placing bulbs, in which bulbs are supplied on a supply surface of a bulbs supply system; the bulbs being identified and picked from the supply surface with a pick-and-place head; wherein the bulbs are reoriented about a minor axis before being placed.
Claims17
A method of picking and placing plant-bulbs, comprising:
- supplying one or more plant-bulbs on a supply surface of a plant-bulbs supply system;
- identifying a plant-bulb as suitable for pick up;
- picking said identified plant-bulb from the supply surface with a pick-and-place device;
- reorienting the picked plant-bulb;
- subsequently to the step of reorienting, placing the reoriented plant-bulb into a pin-bearing holder with one or more upstanding pins;
- identifying a major axis of the identified plant-bulb;
- and
- identifying and selecting a minor axis of the identified plant-bulb, said minor axis being substantially perpendicular to the major axis,
- wherein the step of picking said identified plant-bulb comprises the pick-and-place device gripping said identified plant-bulb at opposed ends of said minor axis, and
- the step of reorienting the picked plant-bulb comprises reorienting about the minor axis with respect to the pick-and-place device,
- wherein the step of placing the reoriented plant-bulb into the pin-bearing holder with one or more upstanding pins comprises gripping the reoriented bulb with four or more compressive gripping elements of the pick-and-place device and placing the reoriented bulb using the four or more compressive gripping elements into the pin-bearing holder with the roots of the plant-bulb oriented towards the one or more upstanding pins.
8 more elements
A system for picking and placing plant-bulbs, comprising:
- a plant-bulb supply system for supplying one or more plant-bulbs;
- a holder supply system for supplying pin-bearing holders with upstanding pins;
- a pick-and-place device for picking an identified plant-bulb from the plant-bulb supply system having a grasper, the pick-and-place device being movable, wherein said grasper comprises opposed grasping surfaces for grasping a bulb therebetween, at least one of said grasping surfaces being actively rotatable to reorient a grasped bulb about a first axis of said bulb;
- and
- the grasper comprising four or more compressive gripping elements for gripping the reoriented plant-bulb held between opposed grasping surfaces, the four or more compressive gripping elements electronically drivable to a closed or open configuration for capturing or releasing the reoriented bulb respectively;
- wherein the four or more compressive gripping elements are arranged to impale the reoriented plant-bulb onto one or more upstanding pins of the holder with the roots of the plant-bulb oriented towards the one or more upstanding pins on which the plant-bulb is impaled.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.