Apparatuses and systems for the automated retrieval, transport, and processing of articles
AssigneeMcKesson Corporation
InventorsRich Herrschaft, Jason Warner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and an apparatus for dispensing and retrieving products is provided. The system may include: a grasping head; first and second grasping members, each grasping member comprising: a top member; a post member; and first and second grasping fingers, where the first and second grasping fingers extend from the post member and are spaced apart from the top member by a predetermined distance, where the first and second grasping members are connected to the grasping head, where at least one of the first and second grasping members is movably connected to the grasping head, where the at least one of the first and second grasping members is movable relative to the other of the first and second grasping members.
Claims20
A system comprising:
- a plurality of sensors;
- a processing line;
- a container disposed between the plurality of sensors and the processing line;
- and
- at least one computing device configured to:
- determine, based on a type of the container, a first cap type of a plurality of cap types, wherein each cap type of the plurality of cap types is associated with a corresponding cap size;
- based on the first cap type, measure, via at least one first sensor of the plurality of sensors, a distance between the at least one first sensor and a top of a cap of the container, wherein the at least one first sensor is positioned above the processing line;
- determine, based on the type of the container and the corresponding cap size associated with the first cap type, an anticipated distance between the at least one first sensor and the top of the cap of the container;
- determine a difference between the anticipated distance and the measured distance;
- and
- provide an alert in response to the difference satisfying a predetermined distance, wherein the alert and the predetermined distance are associated with the first cap type.
An apparatus comprising:
- at least one processor;
- and
- memory storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
- receive, at a processing station, a container, wherein the processing station receives the container along a processing line;
- determine, based on a type of the container, a first cap type of a plurality of cap types, wherein each cap type of the plurality of cap types is associated with a corresponding cap size and at least one sensor of a plurality of sensors at the processing line;
- based on the first cap type, measure a distance from at least one first sensor of the plurality of sensors to a top of a cap of the container, wherein the at least one first sensor is positioned above the processing line;
- determine, based on the type of the container and the corresponding cap size associated with the first cap type, an anticipated distance between the at least one first sensor and the top of the cap;
- determine a difference between the anticipated distance and the measured distance;
- and
- provide an alert in response to the difference satisfying a predetermined distance, wherein the alert and the predetermined distance are associated with the first cap type.
One or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising processor-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to:
- determine, based on a type of a container, a first cap type of a plurality of cap types, wherein each cap type of the plurality of cap types is associated with a corresponding cap size and at least one sensor of a plurality of sensors, and wherein the container is received at a processing station along a processing line comprising the plurality of sensors;
- based on the first cap type, measure a distance from at least one first sensor of the plurality of sensors to a top of a cap of the container, wherein the at least one first sensor is positioned above the processing line and is associated with the first cap type;
- determine, based on the type of the container and the corresponding cap size associated with the first cap type, an anticipated distance between the at least one first sensor and the top of the cap;
- determine a difference between the anticipated distance and the measured distance;
- and provide an alert in response to the difference satisfying a predetermined distance, wherein the alert and the predetermined distance are associated with the first cap type.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.