Pin design for part feeding

Industrial parts can be fed (oriented) using a sequence of fixed horizontal pins to topple the parts as they move past on a conveyor belt. We give an algorithm for designing a sequence of such pins for a given part. Given the n-sided convex polygonal projection of a part, its center of mass and fric tional coefficients, our O(n(2)) algorithm computes the toppling graph, a n ew data structure that explicitly represents the mechanics of toppling, rol ling, and jamming. We verify the toppling graph analysis with experiments. Our O(n(3n)) design algorithm uses the toppling graph to design a sequence of pin locations that will cause the part to emerge in a unique orientation or to determine that no such sequence exists.