Automated systems, devices and methods for processing foodstuff consumable products

An automated system, comprising

• a) a robot system including a plurality of picking robots configured to sort a plurality of foodstuff discrete units being conveyed through a working area on a first conveyor, the plurality of foodstuff discrete units being on a plurality of trays,
• b) a perception system, wherein the perception system is configured to acquire imaging information relating to at least the plurality of foodstuff discrete units being conveyed through the working area, and
• c) a control entity including a data processor, the control entity being in communication with the robot system and the perception system via data communication, wherein the control entity is configured to determine a picking sequence based on perception data relating to the acquired imaging information received from the perception system and to release instructions including the picking sequence to the robot system,
• wherein in response to the instructions being received at the robot system, the plurality of picking robots is configured to sequentially pick a foodstuff unit from a relevant tray according to the picking sequence, and place the picked foodstuff unit on a second conveyor to form a production stream having a serial configuration.

A method, comprising:

• a) acquiring imaging information relating to a plurality of foodstuff discrete units being conveyed through a working area on a plurality of trays;
• b) determining absolute positional information and relative positional information relating to the foodstuff discrete units using the imaging information;
• c) for each tray, using the relative positional information to determine a picking sequence for each of a plurality of picking robots, each picking sequence relating to a different subset of individual foodstuff discrete units on the tray;
• and
• d) for each picking robot, using the absolute positional information to instruct the plurality of picking robots to pick a next individual foodstuff unit of the respective subset of individual foodstuff discrete units in the determined picking sequence.