Patent ID: 6934605

Claim:
A palletizer system for transferring objects that are conveyed along a conveyor to a rack, each object having a surface, the palletizer system comprising: A. a camera configured to generate images of the object as it is being conveyed along the conveyor; B. a robot transfer subsystem comprising a gripper module mounted on a robot, the robot being configured to move the gripper module, and the gripper module being configured to controllably grip the surface, the gripper module being configured to operate in i. in a double-object mode, in which it is enabled to grip surfaces of a plurality of objects concurrently for transfer to the rack, and, ii. in a single-object mode, in which it is enabled to grip the surface of at most one object concurrently for transfer to the rack; and C. a control module configured to i. in response to an image generated by the camera indicating conveyance of objects along the conveyor, control the robot to, in turn, move the gripper module adjacent the surface in parallel with respective ones of the objects, the number depending on whether the gripper module is to be operated in single-object mode or double object mode, and with approximately the same speed as the respective objects and the gripper module to grip the respective surfaces of the respective objects; ii. control the robot and gripper module to remove the respective objects from the conveyor and transfer them to the rack, and iii. control the gripper module to release the surface, thereby to allow the respective objects to be stacked on the rack.