Robot-guided tray loading system

Abstract

In order to improve the configurability of a tray loading system (15), the invention proposes: a method for loading trays (5) with luggage items (8); and an associated tray loading system (15) comprising a robot (20). The luggage items (8) are supplied to the tray loading system (15) using a belt conveyor (10), wherein: a) position and final destination of the luggage items (8) brought in on the belt conveyor (10) are registered by a detector system; b) a robot (20) introduces, by means of a robot controller underneath the belt conveyor (10), a tray (5), located on a robot fork (26), in the conveying direction (9) of the belt conveyor (10); c) the luggage item (8) is conveyed (13a) into the tray (5) by gravity; d) the robot (20) places the tray (5) loaded with a luggage item (5) in a target position (16).

Description

Robot-guided tray loading system

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of conveyor systems / sorting systems for piece goods / baggage in transport containers or trays, especially for airport baggage conveyor systems as described, for example, in the publication WO 2015 / 024930 Al

[0002] is described .

[0002] In many airport baggage handling systems, pieces of luggage are transported in transport containers - hereinafter referred to uniformly as "trays". The pieces of luggage are transported to a tray loading system and there loaded into a tray, which is then subjected to further processing steps in the system such as x-raying, sorting or storage / intermediate storage until the tray is unloaded onto an unloading point determined by information relating to the piece of luggage, typically a belt assigned to an aircraft (= sorting destination). Since each piece of luggage has an individual sorting process and an individual belt assigned to an aircraft (= sorting destination), only one piece of luggage is loaded onto a tray at a time. The throughput of such a system therefore corresponds directly to the throughput of the number of trays. The required capacity must therefore be provided in a tray supply that is sufficiently dimensioned for the respective application.

[0003] The aforementioned tray loading system is typically designed as a «topload configuration»: A special belt conveyor is installed above a tray conveyor. The tray conveyor transports a tray underneath the aforementioned belt conveyor. The belt conveyor conveys the baggage over an edge at the end of the belt conveyor. The baggage "falls" from above onto the tray or is conveyed onto the tray by gravity. Such "top-loading" configurations are very efficient.

[0004] This well-known top-load configuration is shown in FIG. 1. The drop height—hence "falling"—is not very great, and the relative speed of the baggage to the tray to be loaded is preferably low to very low. This means that the baggage does not experience any significant, damaging acceleration. The empty trays move upstream under the belt conveyor. The use of trays thus enables cost-effective, energy-efficient, and baggage-friendly processing of the baggage. The mostly cuboid-shaped pieces of luggage are randomly positioned on the conveyor belt. This continues when they "fall" onto the tray: The position of the pieces of luggage on the trays is also random, meaning they are not aligned or parallel to the rectangular shape of the tray.

[0005] EP 4 108 604 A1

[0001] discloses a method for loading transport containers with baggage and a conveyor system. Specifically for an airport baggage conveyor system, this method comprises the following steps: If two or more consecutive pieces of baggage with matching destinations and dimensions are found, these items are loaded together onto a tray, processed according to the matching destination, and unloaded at the sorting destination. Otherwise, the items are loaded individually onto separate trays. Multiple loading only works if the pieces of luggage in question follow one another on the belt conveyor.

[0006] The present invention is therefore based on the object of specifying a method for loading trays with luggage and a tray loading system which allows - to load several pieces of luggage onto a tray in any order of arrival if the destination is identical, - the capacity of tray loading systems when integrating a sorting process, - to further improve the gentle loading of luggage onto a tray and - without additional space requirements (area, height) for integrated sorting processes.

[0007] This object is achieved by the features specified in the independent patent claims. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are specified in further claims.

[0008] The solution according to the invention is characterized by a method for loading trays with pieces of luggage in a tray loading system, wherein the pieces of luggage are fed to the tray loading system by at least one belt conveyor and the pieces of luggage are intended for a target location of the trays, with the method steps: a) the position and destination of the pieces of luggage brought on the belt conveyor are registered by a detector system, b) a robot, by means of a robot control system, feeds the pieces of luggage onto a tray located on a robot fork below the belt conveyor in the conveying direction of the belt conveyor according to the registered position, dimension, speed and destination of the pieces of luggage, c) the piece of luggage is conveyed into the tray at the end of the belt conveyor by gravity; d) the tray loaded with a piece of luggage is placed by the robot at a target location.

[0009] The tray loading system according to the invention, in which pieces of luggage are fed by a belt conveyor and placed in trays, comprises means for carrying out the method according to the invention.

[0010] A preferred embodiment of the aforementioned tray loading system comprises: at least one belt conveyor for feeding pieces of luggage, a detector system that registers the position and destination of the pieces of luggage brought along on the belt conveyor, a robot and an associated robot control that insert a tray located on a robot fork below the belt conveyor in its conveying direction, so that at the end of the belt conveyor the piece of luggage is conveyed into the tray and a target location into which the tray loaded with a piece of luggage is placed by the robot.

[0011] The use of the robot allows the loaded trays to be placed either on a tray conveyor for immediate further transport or in a tray rack accessible from its gripping area. The tray rack can be used as temporary storage for multiple loads or as long-term storage for so-called «early baggage». The features «temporary storage» and «long-term storage» are functional features with regard to the process. With regard to the tray loading system, the features «temporary storage» and «long-term storage» differ only in terms of the dimensions of the tray rack.

[0012] The aforementioned case of a tray rack as a temporary storage facility allows more than just consecutive pieces of luggage to be combined for multiple loading of the tray. The chance of finding several pieces of luggage that have the same destination and fit into a tray is significantly higher when incoming pieces of luggage can be combined with a number of pieces of luggage with the same destinations stored in a tray rack. The overall performance of such a robot-operated tray loading system increases. This solution is possible because the incoming pieces of luggage are not only influenced by their position, and if applicable, their dimensions and speed, but also by their Destination / flight number / IATA code is registered and, when a tray is deposited, the destination of the piece of luggage on the tray is also stored. In the following, no distinction is consistently made between destination, flight number, and IATA code; in the patent claims, destination, flight number, and IATA code are subsumed under the collective term "destination." The aforementioned information or destination is later used to load such a tray with another piece of luggage with the same destination: Multiple loading of a Trays with luggage. With this multiple loading, the tray rack also serves as a container supply.

[0013] This can result in additional advantages: i) The use of a robot allows for further degrees of freedom in every respect when implementing such a tray loading system: This makes it possible to provide different units in different positions for the target location, for example - several tray conveyors next to each other and / or vertically on different levels, - several intermediate storage areas designed as tray shelves for trays loaded with luggage. Depending on the storage duration, these intermediate storage areas serve as temporary storage or as long-term storage. ii) The luggage items can be retrieved from several belt conveyors in different spatial positions. This applies, of course, as long as the ends of the belt conveyors are within the reach of such a robot. iii) The solution according to the invention requires, in addition to the installation of a detector system for registering the position - possibly dimension and speed - including barcode readers or RFID readers for recording the destination / flight number / IATA code of the luggage items. no adaptation to existing belt conveyor systems for the luggage, in other words: the conveyor technology does not need to be adapted. Loading the trays and (pre-)sorting them onto several tray conveyors (tray lines) using a robot requires significantly less space overall than conventional luggage sorting systems. iv) By registering the position of the approaching luggage items on the belt conveyor, the luggage items can be placed on the trays in an aligned, "parallel" manner by rotating and tilting the robot fork and thus the tray on it. v) Consecutive items of luggage with the same destination can be loaded into the same tray in the same step, according to their registered dimensions. This increases the capacity of such a tray loading system.vi) By registering the position, dimensions and speed of the approaching pieces of luggage, the pieces of luggage can be conveyed more gently onto the trays by tilting the robot fork (and thus the tray on it) against the direction of movement of the belt conveyor. vii) By using several robots, different configurations can be achieved, such as: - Operation of several tray conveyors to achieve (pre-) sorting; - Operation of multiple conveyor belts. Conveyor / tray conveyors involve an m : n relationship, where m stands for the number of conveyor belts and n for the number of tray conveyors. viii) By detecting the tray and baggage currently being handled by the robot, the entire process is improved (accelerated and stabilized). If the If a piece of luggage on the tray is moved by the robot while it is handling the tray, the robot's movement can be adjusted. Any unwanted falling of a piece of luggage does not go unnoticed and the luggage can be reloaded immediately. Double loading of the tray is also possible because the robot sensor can determine whether there is still space for another piece of luggage on a tray already loaded with a piece of luggage - not just in principle, but also based on the positioning of the first piece of luggage. The handling speed can also be adjusted to the circumstances (for example, an upright piece of luggage is less stable than one lying on its stable side and should perhaps be moved more carefully, i.e. at a slower speed or it should be repositioned).

[0014] Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are specified in the dependent claims.

[0015] The invention is explained in more detail below using the drawing as an example. It shows:

[0016] Figure 1 Perspective view of a tray loading system (also topload configuration) according to the state of the art;

[0017] Figure 2 Perspective view of a tray;

[0018] Figures 3A to 3C show an exemplary sequence of movements of a robot for loading a tray with a piece of luggage;

[0019] Figure 4 Robot fork 26 for «gripping» a tray 5 ;

[0020] Figure 5 Tray 5 grasped by a robot fork 26;

[0021] Figure 6A Top view of a topload configuration with two multi-axis robots 20.1 and 20.2, a belt conveyor 10 and two container supply systems 12.1, 12.2;

[0022] Figure 6B Top view of a topload configuration with a multi-axis robot 20 and with two belt conveyors 10.1 and 10.2 and with at least two tray conveyors 11.2 and 11.2.

[0023] Figure 1 shows the principle of a tray loading system 15 in a top-load configuration according to the prior art: Pieces of luggage 8 (not shown in Figure 1) are brought forward on a belt conveyor 10. Below the tray loading system 15, trays 5 are brought forward on a tray conveyor 11. The position of the tray 5 relative to the position of the brought-up pieces of luggage 8 is synchronized via a control and a sensor system, so that the piece of luggage 8 can fall into a brought-up tray 5.

[0024] Figure 2 shows the structure of a tray 5 with a front wall 6 and a rear wall 6 to the direction of movement 7 of the tray 5.

[0025] Figures 3A to 3C show the exemplary sequence of movements of a robot 20 for loading a tray 5 with a piece of luggage 8.

[0026] First, the term «robot» 20: This term includes - Sensors for detecting the environment and the axle positions, - Actuators for operating robot arms, robot forks, etc. - a robot control system, - mechanical components including gearboxes. The robots used here are so-called multi-axis robots 20, preferably six-axis robots. However, in the following, we will always refer to "robot 20."

[0027] In Figures 3A to 3C, pieces of luggage 8 are being conveyed on a belt conveyor 10. The detector system and the robot control system are not shown in these figures. The robot 20 fetches a tray 5 from a container supply 12, e.g., a tray rack 16, and guides it from right to left under the belt conveyor 10 in the direction of movement 9 of a piece of luggage 8 approaching on the belt conveyor 10. The robot fork 26, with the tray 5 fixed thereon, is inclined against the direction of movement 9 of the belt conveyor 10: Arrow 13a in Figure 3A . As the slope continues, the slope is reduced: Arrow 13b in Figure 3B . From the belt conveyor 10, a piece of luggage 8 is conveyed by gravity into the tray 5 . The longitudinal speed of the robot fork 26 with the tray 5 located thereon is determined by a combination movement of - vertical rotation of the robot 20 , - Movement of the robot arms 21 and - Rotation of the robot fork 26 is achieved. The aforementioned combination movement makes it possible to ensure that the relative speed of the robot fork 26 (and thus of the tray 5 fixed thereon) is relatively low compared to the speed of the approaching piece of luggage 8 on the belt conveyor 10. Relatively low can also be expressed by a convergence of the relative speed towards zero at the moment the piece of luggage 8 "falls" into the tray 5. This convergence of the relative speed is achieved by moving the tray 5 fixed on the robot fork 26 at approximately the speed of the belt conveyor 10 and in the same direction of movement. This prevents or at least reduces undesired slipping of the piece of luggage 8. After the luggage item 8 has «fallen» into the tray 5, the fork 26 is brought into a horizontal position: Arrow 13c in Figure 3C . In the illustration of Figures 3A, 3B and 3C, the tray 5 loaded with a piece of luggage 8 is placed in a tray shelf 16. Instead of a tray rack 16, it may also be provided that the tray 5 loaded with a piece of luggage 8 is placed on a tray conveyor 11. A tray conveyor 11—also called a tray line—has a belt conveyor. Tray rack 16 and tray conveyor 11 are collectively referred to as "destination location." It should be emphasized here that, depending on the process step, tray rack 16 can function as a container supply 12 or as a destination location.

[0028] Figure 3A could suggest that the piece of luggage 8 touches the front wall 6 as it is conveyed into the tray 5. Such contact is possible, but by no means mandatory. Based on the detected position, dimensions, and speed of an approaching piece of luggage 8, the robot controller can convey it more toward the center or more toward the rear wall 6 of the tray 5. This is particularly necessary when a tray 5 is loaded with multiple items, in order to avoid stacking of pieces of luggage 8 in a tray 5 as far as possible.

[0029] Figure 4 shows a robot fork 26 for detecting / gripping a tray 5. The tray 5 is detected / gripped by the robot 20 by bringing the robot fork 26 forward from below. The robot fork 26 is formed by two robot fingers 22, each having two support surfaces or support cams 27 for supporting a tray 5. A cylinder 24 with a conical tip is fastened between the two support cams 27 of a robot finger 22, which cylinder engages in a form-fitting manner in a corresponding opening 28 of the tray 5. In this way, the tray 5 is passively fixed on the fork 26. The conical tip allows the cylinder 24 to be securely inserted into the opening 28 of the tray 5. The robot fork 26 has a tab 23 for attachment to a robot arm 21. Instead of the aforementioned term cylinder 24, the term mandrel is also used.

[0030] Figure 5 shows a tray gripped on a robot fork 26. The tray 5 rests on the aforementioned support cams 27. The cylinder 24 lies in a form-fitting manner in a corresponding opening 28 of the tray 5, as explained in Figure 4. The movements of the robot fork 26 sometimes generate greater accelerations and thus also on the tray 5 fixed thereon. In order to prevent one or more pieces of luggage 8 from falling out of the tray 5, a protective wall 25 is additionally fastened to the tab 23. An opposite protective wall 25' (not shown in Figure 5) would also be conceivable. This protective wall 25' does not interfere with the gripping or releasing of a tray 5, since the robot fork 26 must always be moved in a vertical direction towards or away from the tray 5 in order to grip or deposit a tray 5.

[0031] The detection system can include a camera, an infrared camera, motion detectors, and, depending on the airport, an RFID reader or a barcode reader / barcode scanner. The latter two devices are used in particular for detecting the destination and the flight number / IATA code of the respective piece of baggage 8. In practice, in the event of a "no read," a so-called MES station (manual encoding station) must be provided for detecting the destination / flight number / IATA code: Downstream of the aforementioned barcode reader / barcode scanner / RFID reader, the respective piece of baggage 5 must be diverted and identified in a manual step before it can be reinserted into the baggage flow on the belt conveyor 10.

[0032] Figure 6A shows a plan view of a preferred configuration with two robots 20.1 and 20.2, a belt conveyor 10 and two container supplies 12.1 and 12.2. This configuration has two major advantages: i) Redundancy: If one of the robots 20.1 or 20.2 or one of the container supplies 12.1 or 12.2 fails; ii) Compensation: Compared to a tray loading system according to the prior art as shown in Figure 1, loading a tray 5 with a piece of luggage 8 using a robot 20 requires more time; typically 10 seconds or more. This disadvantage can easily be compensated or overcompensated by using two or more robots 20.x running in parallel. The operation of the multiple robots 20.x is coordinated by the robot controller. The term "overcompensation" mentioned above refers to the avoidance of further sorting processes when applying the method proposed here; see also the explanation in the following paragraph.

[0033] Figure 6B shows a top view of a configuration with a robot 20, two belt conveyors 10.1 and 10.2, a container supply 12, and two tray conveyors 11.1 and 11.2. This tray loading system allows, in addition to loading the trays 5 with pieces of luggage 8, a (pre-)sorting to be carried out on two tray conveyors 11.1 and 11.2. However, configurations with more than two tray conveyors 11.1 and 11.2 are possible, so that, in addition to loading the trays 5, a complete sorting of the trays 5 can be achieved. Thanks to the robot 20, all the tray conveyors 11.x do not need to be arranged on a single level, but can be located on several levels, as long as these tray conveyors 11.x are within the gripping space of the robot 20. As stated above, the conveying capacity of a single robot 20 does not reach the conveying capacity of a tray loading system according to the prior art as shown in Figure 1.The use of multiple robots 20 and, if necessary, the introduction of an m:n relationship of belt conveyors. 10 . x and tray conveyors 11 . x significantly increases throughput. The robots 20 . x can be installed on the right or left, as well as standing on the floor or suspended from the ceiling. The term "multiple robots" can easily refer to four or more robots, which can also be arranged one behind the other in the direction of baggage flow.

[0034] In all embodiments, the processed trays 5 and / or pieces of luggage 8 (in particular position and / or orientation) can optionally be monitored by sensors of the robot 20. Sensors such as cameras or light sensors are suitable for monitoring, but weight sensors or other types of sensors can also be used. The monitoring does not require any further fundamental adjustments to the other devices or processes. The monitoring stabilizes the entire process. The speed of the robot movement can be increased because it is possible to react immediately to undesirable events (falling - a fallen piece of luggage 8 can be immediately reloaded, slipping of the piece of luggage 8 on the tray 5 due to centrifugal forces - the movement of the robot can be immediately slowed down, etc.). The robot controller uses the information acquired by the sensors of the robot 20 for control.

[0035] If the sensor of the robot 20 detects the position and possibly also the orientation of the pieces of luggage 8 on the tray 5, it can also be determined whether there is still space for another piece of luggage 8 with the same destination on this tray 8. This multiple loading of a tray 5 increases the capacity.

[0036] Regardless of the version, the robot always includes its own sensors and controls to control its movements and to protect the robot (control of the axes and movements of the robot, switching off in case of Overload or excessively large angle of the robot arm, detection and stopping in the event of a risk of collision with interfering contours, etc.). The at least one sensor for monitoring at least one of the process steps is either an additional sensor or the robot's own sensors perform these additional functions. The latter, however, is only possible if the monitoring and control of the robot function and the monitoring of the process steps can be carried out using the same sensor functionality. List of reference symbols, glossary 5 trays; transport containers 6 Wall; front wall, back wall of a tray 5 7 Direction of movement of a tray 5 on a tray conveyor 11 8 pieces of luggage, general cargo 9 Direction of movement of a piece of luggage 8 on a belt conveyor 10 10 , 10.1, 10.2 Belt conveyor for feeding the luggage 11, 11.1, 11.2 Destination, tray conveyor, tray line, belt conveyor 12 , 12.1, 12.2 Container supply, tray supply 13 . a Position of the tray carried by the robot finger, strongly inclined against the direction of movement 9 of the belt conveyor 10 before the baggage item 8 falls 13 . b Position of the tray carried by the robot finger 22 slightly inclined against the direction of movement 9 of the belt conveyor 10 when the piece of luggage 8 falls 13 . c Position of the tray carried by the robot finger 22 horizontally after the piece of luggage 8 has been conveyed onto the tray 5 15 Tray loading system 16 Target location, tray rack; temporary storage, long-term storage; container supply 20 , 20.1, 20.2 Multi-axis robot; in short “robot” 21, 21.1, 21.2 Robot arm; robot lower arm, robot upper arm 22 Robot er fingers 23 Tab of the robot finger for attachment to the robot arm 24 Cylinder with conical tip for positive fixing of a tray 5 on a robot finger 22 25 Protective wall of the robot fork to prevent a piece of luggage from falling out if the robot fork is tilted too steeply or rotates 26 robot fork 27 On support cams for a tray 5 on the robot fork 26 28 Opening on the tray 6 for a positive fixation with a cylinder 24 attached to a robot finger 26 Acronyms IATA International Air Transport Association RFID Radio Frequency Identification List of cited documents

[0001] EP 4 108 604 A1 «Loading of transport containers of a conveyor system, in particular an airport baggage conveyor system, with piece goods of variable size» Applicant: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft; DE - 80333 Munich

[0002] WO 2015 / 024930 A1 «SORT I CONVEYOR DEVICE» Applicant: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft; DE - 80333 Munich

Claims

Claims 1. Method for loading trays (5) with pieces of luggage (8) in a tray loading system (15), wherein the pieces of luggage (8) are fed to the tray loading system (15) by at least one belt conveyor (10) and the pieces of luggage (8) are provided for a destination location of the trays (5), characterized by the method steps, a) the position and destination of the pieces of luggage (8) brought up on the belt conveyor (10) are registered by a detector system, b) a robot (20) inserts a tray (5) located on a robot fork (26) below the belt conveyor (10) in the conveying direction (9) of the belt conveyor (10) according to the registered position of the pieces of luggage (8), c) the piece of luggage (8) is conveyed into the tray (5) at the end of the belt conveyor (10) by gravity; d) the tray (5) loaded with a piece of luggage (5) is placed by the robot (20) at a destination location (11, 16).

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that in method step a) the speed of the pieces of luggage (8) brought up on the belt conveyor (10) is registered by the detector system and that in method step b) the robot control system controls the robot (20) in such a way that the relative speed of the belt conveyor (10) to the robot fork (26) converges towards zero.

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that in method step b) the robot control rotates the robot fork (26) so that the tray (5) is aligned parallel to the registered position of the piece of luggage (8).

4. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that in method step b) the robot control inclines the robot fork (26) and thus the tray (5) against the conveying direction (9) of the belt conveyor (10) (13. a) in order to gently place the piece of luggage (8) on the tray (5).

5. Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that prior to method step b) a tray (5) from a container supply (12, 16) is gripped from below with the robot fork (26) and the tray (5) is fixed in a form-fitting manner by a cylinder (24) fastened to a robot finger (22).

6. Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the target location (11, 16) - as a tray conveyor (11) for the further transport of the trays (5) loaded with at least one piece of luggage (8) or - as a temporary storage (16) for trays (5) loaded with at least one piece of luggage (8) or - is designed as a long-term storage device for trays (5) loaded with at least one piece of luggage (8).

7. Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that in method step a) the dimension of the pieces of luggage (8) brought up on the belt conveyor (10) is registered by the detector system and that if several successive pieces of luggage (8) have the same destination, these are conveyed into the same tray (5) in method step c) according to their registered dimension.

8. Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that in method step a) the dimension of the pieces of luggage (8) brought up on the belt conveyor (10) is registered by the detector system and prior to method step b) with the same destination and according to the registered dimension of the pieces of luggage (8) a tray (5) is removed by the robot from a temporary storage (16) designed as a tray shelf (16) in order to convey a further piece of luggage (8) in method step c) into the removed tray (5).

9. Method according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that in method step a) the tray loading system (15) has at least two tray conveyors (11.1, 11.2) in order to sort the trays (5) loaded with the luggage (8) onto the tray conveyors (11.1, 11.2) according to the read destinations of the luggage items (8).

10. Method according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the robot (20) monitors at least one of the method steps with at least one of its own sensors, said sensor detecting the position and / or orientation of the tray (5) currently being handled by the robot (20) and at least the piece of luggage (8) on said tray (5), and the robot controller using this information to control the robot (20).

11. Tray loading system (15) in which pieces of luggage (8) are fed by a belt conveyor (10) and deposited in trays (5), comprising means for carrying out the method according to one of claims 1 to 10.

12. Tray loading system (15) according to claim 10 comprising at least one belt conveyor (10) for feeding pieces of luggage (8), a detector system which registers the position and destination of the pieces of luggage (8) brought up on the belt conveyor (10), a robot (20) and an associated robot control which introduce a tray (5) located on a robot fork (26) below the belt conveyor (20) in its conveying direction (9) so that the piece of luggage (8) is conveyed into the tray (5) at the end of the belt conveyor (10), a target location (11, 16) into which the tray (5) loaded with a piece of luggage (8) is placed by the robot (20).

13. Tray loading system (15) according to claim 12, characterized in that the target location (11, 16) - as a tray conveyor (11) for the further transport of the trays (5) loaded with at least one piece of luggage (8) or - is designed as a tray shelf (16) for trays (5) loaded with at least one piece of luggage (8).

14. Tray loading system (15) according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that a container supply (12, 16) is provided in which a tray (5) is gripped from below with a robot fork (26) and the tray (5) has an opening (28) into which a cylinder (24) fastened to a robot finger (24) is inserted during gripping in order to fix the tray (5) on the robot finger (22).

15. Tray loading system (15) according to one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that two robots (20.1, 20.2), each with its own container supply (12.1, 12.2), are arranged to place the trays (5) loaded with a piece of luggage (8) on a tray conveyor (11) in a manner coordinated by the robot control system.

16. Tray loading system (15) according to one of claims 12 to 15, characterized in that two belt conveyors (10.1, 10.2) for bringing the pieces of luggage (8) and at least two tray conveyors (11) are arranged in order to carry out a pre-sorting or sorting of the pieces of luggage (8) loaded onto the trays (5), depending on the number of tray conveyors (11).

17. Tray loading system (15) according to one of claims 12 to 16, characterized in that the robot (20) comprises at least one of its own sensors, designed to detect the position and / or orientation of the tray (5) currently being handled by the robot (20) and at least the piece of luggage (8) on this tray (5), the robot controller using the information from this sensor to control the robot (20).

18. Tray loading system (15) according to one of claims 12 to 17, characterized in that - the detector system is designed to register the speed of the pieces of luggage (8) brought up on the belt conveyor (10) and - the robot control is designed to control the robot (20) using the speed registered by the detector system in such a way that the relative speed of the belt conveyor (10) to the robot fork (26) converges towards zero.

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