Rotary orienter

A method of orienting an object using a rotary orienter, the method comprising:

• locking a rotation pad at a locking station of a turret such that the rotation pad when locked is not rotatable about a pad axis defined by the rotation pad;
• rotating the turret about a central axis defined by the turret to index the locked rotation pad from the locking station to a receiving station;
• receiving an object in a received orientation on the rotation pad positioned at the receiving station;
• wherein:
• the rotation pad is rotatably mounted to the turret such that the rotation pad is rotatable about the pad axis when unlocked and prevented from rotating about the pad axis when locked;
• the turret is rotatably attached to a central shaft defining the central axis;
• the turret is rotatable about the central axis to continuously index the rotation pad through a plurality of index stations including, sequentially, the locking station, the receiving station, an actuating station, and a discharge station distributed radially about the turret;
• the actuating station includes an actuator mechanism actuable to selectively unlock the rotation pad to initiate rotation of the rotation pad at the actuating station;
• and
• the unlocked rotation pad rotates about the pad axis concurrent with indexing of the turret about the central axis;
• sensing the received orientation of the object using a sensor;
• outputting an actuating signal from the sensor when the received orientation of the object is different from a predetermined orientation;
• receiving the actuating signal at the actuator mechanism;
• indexing the rotation pad to the actuating station;
• actuating the actuator mechanism to unlock the rotation pad when the rotation pad is indexed to the actuating station;
• wherein unlocking the rotation pad initiates rotation of the rotation pad;
• rotating the rotation pad about the pad axis while concurrently indexing the rotation pad to the discharge station such that the object is reoriented to the predetermined orientation when the rotation pad is indexed to the discharge station;
• and
• discharging the object in the predetermined orientation from the rotation pad positioned at the discharge station.