Abstract
News editors obtained the following quote from the background information suppli ed by the inventors: “The present disclosure relates to robotic devices and syst ems, and more particularly to vacuum-gripper type end effectors, and related met hods. “In commercial warehouses and material handling facilities (e.g., fulfillment ce nters and sortation centers), automated processes may employ a variety of roboti c devices or systems to manipulate objects, packages, or items. The robotic devi ces (e.g., robotic arms) often include end effectors that operate to engage item s of differing shape, size, and mass, and which can be randomly oriented and/or jumbled together or partially covering each other. Many conventional end effecto rs include suction cups to engage items, including bellows-type, conical, or fla red suction cups. While these types of end effectors can provide reasonable perf ormance for the manipulation of many items, they are incapable of maintaining su fficient contact for manipulation when engaging with a variety of items that are processed in existing material handling facilities (e.g., items having differen t sizes, shapes, stiffness, deformability, etc.), particularly when the manipula tion may include differing velocity or acceleration profiles.”
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