Singulation of irregular mailpieces by adaptive robotics

Singulation is a US Postal Service term denoting the removal of a single mailpiece. A system is presented for singulating overlapping irregular parcels and pieces (IPPs) from a moving conveyor at 36 pieces/minute with more than 95% efficiency. The system uses range imaging to guide an AdeptOne robot in removing the IPPs from the moving conveyor. The system is basically simple, using state-of-the-art, largely off-the-shelf technology. It includes a real-time range imaging system and related algorithms for recognizing, sizing, and locating objects for retrieval, and a sophisticated, versatile end effect or that can handle highly diverse materials and objects