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US 2022/0157111 A1Published application
Volume and time efficient smart dispensing systems
AssigneePolytex Technologies Ltd.
InventorsTomer POLINER, Reuven ZANDER
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided herein are automated time and space efficient item dispensing systems having a plurality of storage compartments and one or more adjustable grippers, for fast and accurate automatic dispensing of items or sets of items.
Claims28
An item dispensing system comprising:
- a container having a front face and a back face, the container comprises:
- a plurality of storage compartments configured for storage/holding of items, wherein the storage compartments are arranged in one or more sets, each set is arranged in rows and/or columns, wherein each of the sets of the storage compartments is configured to move laterally between the front face and the back face of the container;
- and
- a gripper assembly configured to move along a vertical axis and/or a horizontal axis, said gripper assembly comprises at least one adjustable gripper configured to allow an adjustable gripping of an item in a designated storage compartment and deliver the gripped item to a dispensing outlet;
- wherein the lateral movement of the set of compartments and the movement of the gripper assembly is coordinated to thereby allow temporal and spatial accurate positioning of the adjustable gripper and the designed compartment.
2 more elements
A method for dispensing an item from an item dispensing system, the method comprising:
- a) providing an item dispensing system comprising:
- a container having a front face and a back face, the container comprises:
- a plurality of storage compartments configured for storage/holding of items, wherein the storage compartments are arranged in sets, wherein each of the sets of the storage compartments is configured to move laterally between the front face and the back face of the container;
- and
- a gripper assembly configured to move along a vertical axis and/or a horizontal axis, the gripper assembly comprises at least one adjustable gripper configured to allow an adjustable gripping of an item in a designated storage compartment;
- and deliver the gripped item to a dispensing outlet;
- b) selecting an item for dispensing using a user interface of the system;
- wherein, based on the selected item, the lateral movement of the set of compartments and the horizontal and/or vertical movement of the gripper assembly is coordinated to allow temporal and spatial positioning of the adjustable gripper and the designed compartment comprising the selected item, to thereby allow the adjustable gripper to adjustably grip the selected item and deliver the selected item to the dispensing outlet.
5 more elements
An item dispensing system, comprising:
- a plurality of storage compartments configured for storage/holding of items, wherein the storage compartments are arranged in rows and/or columns;
- at least two gripper units configured to move along at least one axis, each of said gripper units being configured to grip an item positioned within a designated storage compartment and deliver the gripped item to a dispensing outlet of said item dispensing system;
- wherein said at least one axis and/or one of said at least two gripper units are configured such that said at least two gripper units are independently operable, thereby allowing concurrent dispensing of two or more items, wherein each of said items originates from a separate designated storage compartment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.