Inventors:
William Van Durrett - Charlotte NC
Gerald W. Hieronymus - Charlotte NC
Marguerite A. Pond - Charlotte NC
Todd D. Price - Charlotte NC
Margaret L. S. Scurry - Charlotte NC
William C. Steene - Gastonia NC
Assignee:
International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY
International Classification:
B65G 5726
Abstract:
An automatic palletizer system loads a random set of different size and weight boxes onto a pallet without a prior knowledge of the boxes to be loaded. As the boxes pass along a conveyor belt on the way to the pallet, a weighing, dimensioning, and scanning station determines the weight, dimensions and contents of each box. A processor uses this information to continuously remap the optimal pallet configuration for the loading of the remaining boxes as the pallet is loaded. A queuing station, under direction of the processor, reshuffles the sequence of a limited number of boxes to improve the final pallet configuration. The pallet is loaded by a robot arm under direction of the processor.