On the design of traps for feeding 3D parts on vibratory tracks

In the context of automated feeding (orienting) of industrial parts, we study the algorithmic design of traps in the bowl feeder track that filter out all but one orientation of a given polyhedral part. We propose a new class of traps that removes a V-shaped portion of the track. The proposed work advances the state-of-the-art in algorithmic trap design by extending earlier work [1], [3], [11]—which focuses solely on 2D parts—to 3D parts, and by incorporating a more realistic part motion model in the design algorithm. The presented complete design algorithm takes as input any polyhedral part, along with its center of mass, and reports all valid trap designs that feed the given part.