Amazon Technologies, Inc.

Emanuel Moshouris

Andrew Stubbs

Ennio Claretti

Emily Dunne

Joseph McGrath

Don Frank Ruffatto

Nikhil Bole

Mike Hector

Danielle Vigent

Rachel Lynn Muhlbauer

Item consolidation tools are described. In one example, an item consolidator includes first and second bay doors, a door displacement system, and a controller. The door displacement system includes first and second drive systems secured to the undersides of the first and second bay doors. The drive systems provide angular and a lateral degrees of freedom, to move the first and second bay doors. The controller is configured to direct the door displacement system to form a bay door vertex between leading edges of the bay doors. Items can be placed on the doors and will rest at the vertex between the doors. The controller can also determine drop locations for the items. The controller can then direct the door displacement system to reposition the bay door vertex based on the drop locations and drop the items by opening or retracting the doors.

Item consolidator

A singulation device can singulate items. The items can be received onto a singulation conveyor. A portion of the items can be retained on the singulation conveyor by a retaining ledge. The portion of the items not retained on the singulation conveyor can fall onto a return conveyor. The singulation conveyor can transport the retained items along the length of the ledge. During conveyance, some of the items can fall off of the singulation conveyor onto the return conveyor.

Singulation of items

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Seattle, WA, United States of America

Emanuel Moshouris