Handling and sorting materials using electroadhesion

摘要

A process for sorting materials using material-selective electroadhesive grippers is disclosed. At least one of an electroadhesive surface or a plurality of articles is manipulated such that multiple ones of the plurality of articles are at least intermittently proximate the electroadhesive surface. Voltage is applied to one or more electrodes in the electroadhesive surface to thereby cause the electroadhesive surface to selectively adhere to a subset of the plurality of articles based on the subset of the plurality of articles having different material properties than others of the plurality of articles. While the voltage is applied, the electroadhesive surface is moved with respect to the others of the plurality of articles to thereby separate the subset of the plurality of articles from the others of the plurality of articles.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
manipulating at least one of an electroadhesive surface or a plurality of articles such that multiple ones of the plurality of articles are at least intermittently proximate the electroadhesive surface, wherein the electroadhesive surface includes a plurality of electrodes and the plurality of electrodes includes at least one positive electrode and at least one negative electrode; determining a material composition of a particular article proximate the electroadhesive surface, wherein determining the material composition of the particular article proximate the electroadhesive surface comprises receiving an indication of the material composition from a material detection system; selecting a voltage based on the determined material composition; applying the selected voltage between the at least one positive electrode and the at least one negative electrode in the electroadhesive surface to thereby cause the electroadhesive surface to selectively adhere to a subset of the plurality of articles based on the subset of the plurality of articles having different material properties than others of the plurality of articles; and while applying the selected voltage between the at least one positive electrode and the at least one negative electrode in the electroadhesive surface, moving the electroadhesive surface with respect to the others of the plurality of articles to thereby separate the subset of the plurality of articles from the others of the plurality of articles.