Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:368933 [] For AuthorsIf you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Identifying the most probable natural resting orientation of a part, in automatic handling, helps in the effective design of feeder and orientation devices. For parts with complex geometries and topologies, it is not always intuitively apparent what the natural resting probability of each orientation is. The purpose of this paper is to determine, by theoretical methods, the probability of occurrence of each natural resting orientation of eight different typical sector shaped parts. Design/methodology/approach -Probability of natural resting orientations were found using theoretical methods and drop test. Pearson's x 2 test was used to decide whether to accept or reject the expected data by comparing with the observed data. Findings -Irrespective of dimensions and material, the most probable natural resting orientation was the same. Height of drop was influential in the probability of most probable natural resting orientation.Research limitations/implications -The research does not include objects with minimum thickness (i.e. 2D objects). Originality/value -The paper shows that determining the most probable natural resting orientation will help designers to design the part feeders effectively.

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