Patent ID: 7366585

Claim:
A method for transferring at least one article from a starting point to an end point using a multi-axis robot having a holding tool and being controllable by a computer, said holding tool holding said at least one article during transfer thereof at a holding surface in a manner subjecting said at least one article to tear away from said holder tool due to inertial forces acting on said at least one article during transfer thereof, said at least one article having dimensions and a weight that produce a center a gravity of said at least one article that substantially coincides with a geometric center of the article, said method comprising the steps of: for said at least one article, storing said weight and dimensions in a databank; prior to transferring said at least one article to be transferred, accessing, by said computer, the weight and dimensions thereof from said databank and, in said computer, automatically calculating said geometric center, as the center of gravity, of said at least one article to be transferred; giving said computer access to said starting point and said end point for said at least one article to be transferred; in said computer, automatically calculating a transfer path, as a predetermined transfer path, for said at least one article to be transferred with respect to multiple axes of said multi-axis robot, dependent on said starting point and said end point and said center of gravity of said at least one article to be transferred, that causes said inertial forces acting on said at least one article to be transferred during transfer thereof to be confined substantially to normal forces acting orthogonally to said holding surface; and picking up said at least one article to be transferred at said starting point with said holding tool and transferring said at least one article to be transferred from said starting point to said end point with said multi-axis robot along said predetermined transfer path and precluding tear away of said at least one article to be transferred from said holding tool exclusively by adherence to said pre-determined transfer path.