Automated tile placement machine

1. An automated machine for assembling individual tiles on a substrate surface in a predetermined pattern, comprising:

a tile feeder with an open ended shoe portion adapted for holding a stack of regularly shaped tiles, and a tile advancement mechanism for incrementally advancing tiles in the shoe toward the open end thereof; and

a six axis robot with a vacuum end effector adapted to retrieve a tile from the end of the tile stack, and place the tile on the substrate surface, wherein the vacuum end effector comprises at least three compressible pins surrounding a flexible bellows.

2. The automated machine of claim 1 , wherein the surface is linearly and incrementally movable relative to the tile feeder.

3. The automated machine of claim 1 , further comprising a sensor for determining when a front tile in the stack is at the open end of the shoe.

4. The automated machine of claim 3 , wherein the sensor comprises a laser switch.

5. A tile dispenser for holding a generally horizontal stack of four sided tiles, and presenting the tiles one at a time for retrieval by a robotic mechanism; comprising:

an elongated shoe for receiving the stack of tiles, the shoe having an open end;

a tile advancement mechanism adapted for incrementally advancing the stack of tiles toward the open end of the shoe; and

a sensor for determining when a front tile in the stack is at the open end of the shoe.

6. The tile dispenser of claim 5 , wherein the tile advancement mechanism comprises a moveable plate abutting a back end of the tile stack.

7. The tile dispenser of claim 6 , wherein the moveable plate comprises a rolling trolley driven by a linear actuator.

8. The tile dispenser of claim 5 , wherein the sensor comprises a laser switch.

9. The tile dispenser of claim 5 , further comprising guide rails disposed in the bottom and sides of the shoe.

10. The tile dispenser of claim 9 , further comprising registration means at the open end of the shoe for positioning a front tile of the stack in an accurately repeatable position.

11. The tile dispenser of claim 10 , wherein the registration means comprises a pneumatic actuator on one side of the open end of the shoe adapted to push the front tile toward the opposite side of the shoe.

12. The tile dispenser of claim 11 , wherein the shoe is inclined from the horizontal with the open end elevated.

13. A method of using a robotic mechanism to retrieve individual tiles from a stack of tiles in a tile dispenser, and place the tiles on a surface in a predetermined pattern, comprising:

retrieving a first tile from the end of the tile stack in the dispenser;

placing the first tile on the surface;

retrieving a second tile from the dispenser;

bringing the second tile into contact with the first tile by orienting the second tile to be facing the surface and separated laterally from the first tile by a gap, and moving the second tile across the gap toward the first tile until a lower portion of a first edge of the second tile is touching an upper portion of a first edge of the first tile; and

moving the second tile substantially toward and onto the surface while maintaining edge contact with the first tile, wherein edge contact between the first and second tiles is maintained by using the robotic mechanism to urge the second tile toward the first tile with a small lateral force.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the small lateral force is due to compliance in the robotic mechanism.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising retrieving and placing additional tiles on the surface in a prescribed manner to create a tile panel, wherein the surface is the surface of a panel substrate mounted atop a linearly moveable table.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising indexing the linearly moveable table and creating a second tile panel on a second panel substrate.