Various shuttle conveyor designs are disclosed. The conveyors are suitable for conveying objects along a transport direction. The shuttle conveyors may include a track extending along a conveying path, the track defining a length, and a plurality of shuttle elements independently movable along the track. Each shuttle element may define mating structure for following the track along the conveying path. Each shuttle element may include at least one movable gripping member for selectively gripping conveyed objects. The shuttle elements may define a collective length less than the length of the track. A drive mechanism moves the shuttle elements along the track. The shuttle elements may include a plurality of links. The shuttle elements may be driven faster on at least a portion of a return portion of the track than on the conveying portion of the track, and the shuttle element flow along the track may be modulated in various ways.