Patent ID: 7017961

Claim:
A robotic end effector for picking product and building a bundle of product retained thereon comprising: A) a rectangular vacuum assisted plenum having opposing outer peripheral edges comprising; i) a vacuum plenum fed by a vacuum inlet; plurality of plenum apertures in said vacuum plenum; and ii) in said plenum apertures, contact activated vacuum assisted suction cup assemblies comprising: a) a cylindrical bellowed or corrugated cup defining a plurality of interconnected bellows or corrugations of alternating, coaxial large and small diameter areas, said bellowed cup comprising; A) an open contact end; and B) a valve end including a valve seat and a peripheral flange for engagement with said plenum apertures; iii) a threaded articulatable valve stem having first and second extremities; iv) a valve plate intermediate said open contact end and said valve end in one of said large diameter areas attached to said first extremity and including apertures therein for the passage of a vacuum; and v) a valve stop threaded onto said valve stem at said second extremity said valve stop being of a size to engage said valve seat and including a central threaded aperture; and vi) compressive plates rotatably mounted along each of said outer peripheral edges; said plurality of compressive plates being rotatable downward from said outer peripheral edges to compress a bundle of product retained on said vacuum assisted plenum.