Abstract: The invention is an egg carton pickup head utilized in a robotic system for packing egg cartons into tight fitting containers. The automated pickup head includes a pair of wings which move linearly, toward or away from each other, three guide wheels affixed to each wing for guiding the movement of a pair of arcuate shaped carton engaging arms. The head further includes a first pair of actuating cylinders for moving the wings toward or away from each other and a second pair of actuating cylinders to actuate and retract the arms in an arcuate path similar to the radius and curvature of the arcuate pickup arms.