Robot system for encasing conical articles

A robot system for encasing conical articles comprising:

• a robot moving on a moving path, a conical articles arraying and feeding device, an inverting device for carrying and inverting a plurality of said conical articles and a case for enclosing therein said conical articles, said arraying and feeding device, said inverting device and said case being arranged along the moving path of the robot,
• wherein said robot provides a first gripper functioning to grip and convey conical articles arranged on the arraying and feeding device to the inverting device and further functioning to grip and convey conical articles arranged on the arraying and feeding device to the case, and a second gripper functioning to grip and convey the inverted conical articles arranged on the inverting device to the case, and
• wherein each of said conical articles is inserted on a peg on a tray, respectively, and is conveyed on a belt conveyor to be erected on the tray, and
• wherein said inverting device comprises an inverting table mounted rotatably through support shafts at both ends thereof and a rotation drive unit for the inverting table, and
• wherein said inverting table includes a protrusion capable of being gripped by the second gripper of the robot which is formed substantially centrally on the lower surface of the inverting table in a normal condition and a conical article engaging device which is formed on the upper surface of the inverting table.

A method of conveying articles from an arraying device to an enclosure comprising:

• arranging a first plurality of articles on said arraying device;
• conveying said first plurality of articles from said arraying device to an inverting device by means of a first gripper;
• depositing said first plurality of articles on said inverting device;
• inverting said first plurality of articles;
• arranging a second plurality of articles on said arraying device;
• conveying said second plurality of articles from said arraying device to said enclosure by means of said first gripper;
• depositing said second plurality of articles in said enclosure;
• conveying said inverted first plurality of articles from said inverting device to said enclosure by means of a second gripper;
• depositing said inverted first plurality of articles in said enclosure.

A device for conveying articles from an arraying device to an enclosure comprising:

• arrangement means for arranging a first plurality of articles and a second plurality of articles on said arraying device;
• inverting means for inverting said first plurality of articles to thereby form an inverted first plurality of articles;
• a first gripper for conveying said first plurality of articles from said arraying device to said inverting means and for conveying said second plurality of articles from said arraying device to said enclosure and for depositing said second plurality of articles in said enclosure;
• and
• a second gripper for conveying said inverted first plurality of articles from said inverting means to said enclosure and for depositing said inverted first plurality of articles in said enclosure.