Needle dispenser

A needle dispenser comprising:

• a hopper defining an interior configured to receive and hold a plurality of bulk needles for dispensing;
• a singularizing drum positioned to rotate with a portion of the singularizing drum exposed to the interior of the hopper, the singularizing drum comprising a plurality of grooves at least one groove in an outer surface of the singularizing drum;
• a positioning drum positioned to rotate adjacent to the singularizing drum, wherein the positioning drum comprises a center shaft and two exterior flanges that extend radially away from the center shaft and forming an outer surface of the positioning drum, with a plurality of grooves extending across both of the two exterior flanges, the plurality of grooves in the positioning drum matches the plurality of grooves in the singularizing drum, wherein the singularizing drum and the positioning drum each have a rotation increment associated with each of the plurality of grooves in the singularizing drum and the positioning drum, and the singularizing drum and the positioning drum rotate in coordination through successive rotation increments of the singularizing drum and the positioning drum to pass a needle from a groove of the singularizing drum to a groove of the positioning drum and to rotate groove of the positioning drum to a dispense position, wherein the two exterior flanges define a space therebetween configured to accommodate a gripper operable to remove the needle from the dispensing position;
• a needle sensor arranged relative to the positioning drum at a rotation increment of the plurality of successive rotation increments immediately prior to the dispense position, wherein the needle sensor produces a sensor signal indicative of a presence of a needle at the rotation increment prior to the dispense position;
• and
• a controller configured to operate the singularizing drum and the positioning drum to rotate through the successive rotation increments until the controller receives the sensor signal indicative of the presence of the needle, and upon detecting the presence of the needle, the controller is configured to operate the positioning drum to rotate one rotation increment to position the needle at the dispense position;
• wherein the singularizing drum and the positioning drum are configured to rotate in coordination such that the plurality of grooves in the singularizing drum and the plurality of grooves in the positioning drum align each sequentially align at a transition point between the singularizing drum and the positioning drum.