Gripper Device with Tail Bending Mechanism for Pliable Food Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gripper devices for pliable food products, such as chicken breasts with a tail-like part, often cause the products to fall off during transport and require manual adjustment for aesthetic placement, increasing system size and cost due to the slippery nature of the products and difficulties in sealing trays.
Innovation Solution
A gripper device with a pair of jaws and a tail bender device that moves downward to bend the tail-like part, combined with a belt to encircle the product and a control unit for precise positioning, ensuring secure pickup and release with improved visual appearance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional gripper device is used to pick up pliable food products, then the food product can be picked up and transported, but the food product may fall off during movement due to its slippery nature
Solution Approach 1:
The tail bender device performs preliminary action by bending the tail-like part downward before the food product is released into the tray. This pre-positioning action ensures that the tail is already in the correct position to prevent slipping and maintain visual appearance, eliminating the need for subsequent manual adjustment.
Solution Approach 2:
The tail bender device acts as an intermediary mechanism between the gripper jaws and the food product's tail-like part. It specifically addresses the tail portion that causes slipping by bending it downward, thereby securing the food product in the tray without requiring manual intervention.
2Ease of manufacture
If the tail-like part of the food product is not managed properly, then the food product can be picked up easily, but the tail may go over the edge of the tray making sealing difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The tail bender device performs preliminary bending of the tail-like part downward before the food product is placed in the tray. This pre-action ensures that the tail is positioned correctly and will not extend over the tray edge, making subsequent sealing operations straightforward and eliminating the need for manual adjustment.
3Shape
If manual labor is added to adjust food product positions for visual appearance, then the visual appearance improves, but the overall system size and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The tail bender device enables the robotic system to perform the tail bending action automatically as part of the pickup and placement process. The system serves itself by incorporating the tail bender functionality directly into the gripper device, eliminating the need for separate manual adjustment operations and reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The tail bender device is merged with the existing gripper device structure, combining the functions of pickup, tail bending, and placement into a single integrated system. This consolidation eliminates the need for separate manual adjustment operations and reduces overall system complexity while achieving the desired visual appearance.
4Manufacturing precision
If the tail bender device moves below the jaws in closing position, then the tail-like part is pushed downward effectively, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tail bender device is designed with dynamic movement capabilities, allowing it to move below the jaws in closing position to push the tail-like part downward. This dynamic positioning enables precise tail control while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure by utilizing the existing jaw movement mechanism.
Data Source
Figure 1(a)~1(c)
Figure 2
AI summary
This invention relates to a gripper device (100) configured to pick up a pliable food product having a tail-like part (107) from a pick up area and releasing it at a releasing area, where a support (101) is provided, a pair of jaws (102) mounted to the support for movement of distal ends thereof towards each other defining a closing position of the pair of jaws and away from each other defining an open position of the pair of jaws, and a tail bender device (103) attached to the support and adjacent to one end of the pair of jaws, the tail bender device being moveable in relation to the pair of jaws and is configured to bend the tail- like part while transferring the food product from the pick up area until releasing it at the releasing area.