Granted Patent B2

US 12,536,394 · App. 18/917,116 · Granted Jan 27, 2026

Inventors: Thomas Wagner (Concord, MA); Matthew T. Mason (Atlanta, GA); Christopher Geyer (Arlington, MA); John Richard Amend, Jr. (Arlington, MA); Kyle Maroney (Saunderstown, RI); Joseph Romano (Arlington, MA); Victoria Hinchey (Winchester, MA); Jeffrey Kittredge (Lexington, MA); Andrew Gauthier (Melrose, MA); Lakshman Kumar (Billerica, MA); Prasanna Velagapudi (Pittsburgh, PA)

Assignee: Berkshire Grey Operating Company, Inc.

G06K7/10693B07C5/3412B65G1/1378B65G25/04B65G47/12B65G47/18B65G47/46B65G47/962B65G2203/041

Abstract

Claims (26)

1 . A distribution system for providing dissimilar objects into one of a plurality of receiving stations, said distribution system comprising:

an urging system for urging an object on a conveyor from the conveyor to a chute that includes at least one actuatable door for selectively dropping the object through the at least one actuatable door, said chute leading to a first receiving station with a second receiving station being positioned below the at least one actuatable door, wherein the first receiving station is a first output conveyor and the second receiving station is a second output conveyor.

2 . The distribution system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the urging system includes a forced air system for providing positive air flow at the object in either of two opposing directions.

3 . The distribution system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the urging system includes a bi-directional conveyor section.

4 . The distribution system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the urging system includes at least one paddle.

5 . The distribution system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each receiving station includes a corresponding chute.

6 . The distribution system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one actuatable door is provided as a pair of doors that are opened to drop the object therethrough.

7 . The distribution system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a second chute that opposes the chute on an opposite side of the conveyor, wherein the second chute leads to a third receiving station.

8 . The distribution system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the third receiving station includes any of an output conveyor and a mobile carrier.

9 . A distribution system in an induction system for use with an object processing system, said distribution system for providing dissimilar objects into one of a plurality of receiving stations, said distribution system comprising:

an urging system for urging an object of the dissimilar objects from an input conveyor to one of a first chute and a second chute, the first chute and the second chute positioned on opposite sides of the input conveyor, the first chute leading to a first receiving station, the second chute leading to a second receiving station, at least one of the first chute and the second chute including a cooperative pair of actuatable doors for selectively dropping the object through the cooperative pair of actuatable doors to a third receiving station positioned below the cooperative pair of actuatable doors, wherein the third receiving station is an output conveyor.

10 . The distribution system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the urging system includes a forced air system for providing positive air flow at the object in either of two opposing directions.

11 . The distribution system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the urging system includes a bi-directional conveyor section.

12 . The distribution system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the urging system includes at least one paddle.

13 . The distribution system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the cooperative pair of doors are selectively opened based on a detected mass of the object.

14 . The distribution system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein each of the first and second receiving stations is one of a conveyor and a mobile carrier.

15 . The distribution system as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the mobile carrier is adapted to move among a plurality of tracks in the object processing system.

16 . A method of distributing objects comprising:

moving a plurality of dissimilar objects on a first conveyor;

urging an object on the first conveyor from the first conveyor to a chute adjacent the first conveyor, the chute leading to a first receiving station, the chute including an actuatable door positioned above a second receiving station, wherein the first receiving station is a first output conveyor and the second receiving station is a second output conveyor;

directing the object down the chute towards the first output conveyor; and

actuating the actuatable door to drop the object to the second output conveyor.

17 . The method as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the step of urging includes providing positive air flow at the object toward the chute.

18 . The method as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the step of urging includes activating a bi-directional conveyor section.

19 . The method as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the step of urging includes actuating at least one paddle.

20 . The method as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the actuatable door is a cooperative pair of doors that are opened to drop the object therethrough.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (11)

References Cited (352)