| 摘要 |
A needle sorting device comprises an infeed device which singulates and randomly deposits surgical needles upon a first conveyor for transmission to a processing station. Upon transit, one or more cameras to obtain an image of the deposited needles. The image is digitized and the digital signals are transmitted to a control system computer which evaluates the position and orientation for randomly positioned needles and processes the information to obtain data for communication to one or more robot assemblies having grippers. Utilizing the position and orientation data, the robot assembly grippers removes selected needles from the first conveyor and transfers each needle to an engagement device located upon a second precision conveyor. This second precision conveyor is provided with additional devices to further orient the needle transferred thereto. Each oriented needle is conveyed by the second conveyor to an automatic swaging station where sutures are automatically attached. |
