Automated Feeding of Industrial Parts with Modular Blades: Design Software, Physical Experiments, and an Improved Algorithm

The "blade", a three-parameter primitive for part feeding, and a complete (quasi-static) algorithm for its design (which runs in O(n⁶) time) were introduced. Here, we present our implementation of the geometric blade design algorithm, a reconfigurable modular blade hardware design, and physical experiments: we report experiments with 14 blade configurations and 3 test parts. We then present an improved blade design algorithm which takes into account the part behaviors that are observed in the physical experiments, yet that are not considered by the quasi-static algorithm.