Automated identification and assembly of shoe parts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11266207-B2
Application number	US-202016842379-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 7, 2020
Priority date	Nov 18, 2011
Publication date	Mar 8, 2022
Grant date	Mar 8, 2022

Abstract

Manufacturing and assembly of a shoe or a portion of a shoe is enhanced by automated placement and assembly of shoe parts. For example, a part-recognition system analyzes an image of a shoe part to identify the part and determine a location of the part. Once the part is identified and located, the part can be manipulated by an automated manufacturing tool.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for automatically identifying and assembling shoe parts during a shoe-manufacturing process, the method comprising:
capturing an image of a first shoe part;
identifying the first shoe part in the image; and
transferring, using a part-transfer tool, the identified first shoe part from a first location to a second location to position the first shoe part on a second shoe part.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the image comprises a two-dimensional representation of the first shoe part, and wherein the two-dimensional representation comprises at least one reference feature that is identified.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one reference feature comprises an outline of the first shoe part.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one reference feature comprises a perimeter of the first shoe part.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first shoe part is identified in the image automatically by a computing device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the part-transfer tool comprises a part-pickup tool that generates a pickup force.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein positioning the first shoe part on the second shoe part comprises aligning the first shoe part and the second shoe part for attachment.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising attaching the first shoe part to the second should part using a part-attachment tool.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the part-attachment tool is adapted for stitching, adhering, or welding.

10. A system for automatically identifying and assembling shoe parts during a shoe-manufacturing process, the system comprising:
a camera adapted to capture an image of a first shoe part; and
a computing device configured to:
determine an identity of the first shoe part from the image, and
direct a part-transfer tool to transfer the identified first shoe part from a first location to a second location to position the first shoe part on a second shoe part.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein determining an identity of the first shoe part comprises identifying at least one reference feature of the first shoe part in the image.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one reference feature comprises an outline of the first shoe part.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one reference feature comprises a perimeter of the first shoe part.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the part-transfer tool comprises a part-pickup tool adapted to generate a pickup force.

15. The system of claim 10 , further comprising a part-attachment tool adapted to attach the first shoe part to the second shoe part.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the part-attachment tool is adapted for stitching, adhering, or welding.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the part-transfer tool is adapted to transfer the first shoe part into alignment with the second shoe part for assembly.

18. The system of claim 10 , wherein the computing device is adapted to identify a plurality of different types of shoe parts.

19. The system of claim 10 , further comprising a backlight adapted to illuminate the first shoe part when the first image is captured.

20. The system of claim 10 , further comprising a conveyor adapted to advance the first shoe part to a position at which the first image is captured.

Assignees

• Nike Inc

Inventors

• Regan Patrick Conall
• Lee Kuo-Hung
• Chang Chih-Chi
• Jean Ming-Feng
• Liao Chang-Chu

Classifications

• B29C66/8161

  said pressing elements being supported or backed-up by springs or by resilient material · CPC title

• A43D11/00

  Machines for preliminary treatment or assembling of upper-parts, counters, or insoles on their lasts preparatory to the pulling-over or lasting operations; Applying or removing protective coverings · CPC title

• G05B19/4099

  Surface or curve machining, making three-dimensional [3D] objects, e.g. desktop manufacturing · CPC title

• B29C66/863

  Robotised, e.g. mounted on a robot arm · CPC title

• A43D2200/60

  Computer aided manufacture of footwear, e.g. CAD or CAM · CPC title