Carton manipulation analysis using configuration transformation

Abstract

This paper investigates the folding process of packaging cartons and characterizes the manipulation of automatic carton folding by converting the problem into that of a motion sequence of an equivalent, metamorphic mechanism. The mechanism makes an analogy with a carton by taking carton creases as joints and carton panels as links. Hence the mechanism analysis can be applied to carton motion study, the loop can be analysed using the graph theory and the active guiding joints can be identified using the adjacency matrix. The folding sequence is thus produced and a general representation of carton manipulation is presented with a hereditary connectivity matrix and a configuration matrix. The methodology and algorithm are applied to an origami-type carton folding with simulation.