Patent ID: 7726932

Claim:
A separation tool for separating a pile of recipients into sub-piles of recipients, the tool comprising: a frame comprising a mounting plate, said plate comprising at least one first horizontal rail extending along the width thereof; a controller; a sensor linked to said controller and mounted to said frame for verifying the level of recipients in a given pile and transmitting this data to said controller for assessing if there are sufficient recipients in a given pile for separation into sub-piles, said sensor detecting the last recipient of a first sub-pile of that given pile or the first recipient of a second sub-pile upstream from said first sub-pile of that given pile; said first recipient of said second sub-pile being the recipient adjacent said last recipient of said first sub-pile upstream therefrom, said sensor transmitting this data to said controller, said controller being configured to consider the first recipient of the given pile as the first recipient of the first sub-pile and said adjacent recipient as the first recipient of a second sub-pile needing to be separated from said recipient of the first sub-pile; at least one manipulator arm linked to said controller for control thereof; said at least one manipulator arm being slidably mounted to a vertical rail that is slidably mounted to said first horizontal rail via a plate, and including a mechanical hand assembly being slidably mounted to a second horizontal rail and having a fixed finger assembly for holding one of i) said last recipient of said first sub-pile and ii) said first recipient of said second sub-pile, and a separation finger assembly for pushing the other of said one of said last recipient of said first sub-pile and said first recipient of said second sub-pile in accordance with the data received by said controller; and a tool-mounting element for mounting said tool to a robot arm for positioning and moving said tool over the pile of recipients, wherein said first and second horizontal rails provide for moving said at least one manipulator arm along respective first and second horizontal axes being generally orthogonal relative to one another and said vertical rail provides for moving said at least one manipulator arm along a vertical axis.