Method for feeding parcels onto a sorting conveyor using a gripper robot with suction cups and an integrated camera

A method for feeding parcels onto a sorting conveyor from unsorted parcels conveyed on a feed conveyor, wherein a digital image of the unsorted parcels is formed by means of a first camera arranged above the feed conveyor, a control-and-monitoring unit is used to identify a parcel to be separated having a gripping face on the top of the parcel not covered by any other parcel in said digital image of the unsorted parcel, said control-and-monitoring unit being configured to servo-control a gripper robot with suction cups comprising a gripper hand with a palm from which said suction cups extend so as to grasp by suction said parcel to be separated identified in the digital image and to deposit it on the sorting conveyor, wherein when said gripper robot is above said parcel to be separated and before gripping it, a digital image of the gripping face of said parcel to be separated is formed by means of a second camera arranged in the palm of the hand between the suction cups of said gripper robot, and in that the control-and-monitoring unit is configured to identify the presence or absence of an indication of the presence of sorting information in said digital image of the gripping face of the parcel and to servo-control the gripper robot in order to respectively move the parcel from the feed conveyor directly onto the sorting conveyor or to deposit the parcel from the feed conveyor onto a parcel turning device designed to turn over and deposit the parcel onto the sorting conveyor.