Automated Loading and Unloading of Free-Swinging Overhead Hangers

Free-swinging hangers on overhead conveyors are widely used in the manufacturing industry, such as in assembly lines and paint finishing lines. Manual loading and unloading of hangers can pose health and safety risks to workers and constitute a substantial part of production costs. In this work, we explore automation of the loading and unloading process using a robot manipulator arm and model-based object tracking. Dynamic robot motions are planned in real time to safely approach the swinging hanger and hook and unhook objects, guided by pose estimates from a CAD-based tracker. The proposed solution demonstrates a flexible approach to automating overhead hanger handling, particularly for retrofitting existing conveyor systems.