Power tool and power tool system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12440955-B2
Application number	US-202418598190-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2024
Priority date	Apr 3, 2023
Publication date	Oct 14, 2025
Grant date	Oct 14, 2025

Abstract

A power tool is configured such that at least one accessory is mountable in a detachable manner. The power tool includes at least one camera and a determining part. The at least one accessory may be an auxiliary handle and/or a cover, which at least partially covers a tool accessory mounted on the power tool in a detachable manner. The determining part is configured to perform image processing on image data output from the at least one camera and to determine whether the state of the at least one accessory is normal based on at least whether the at least one accessory is mounted on the power tool.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A power tool, on which at least one accessory is mountable in a detachable manner, comprising:
at least one camera; and
a determining part;
wherein:
the at least one accessory is at least one device selected from a detachable auxiliary handle and a detachable cover, which is configured to at least partially cover a tool accessory mounted on the power tool; and
the determining part is configured to perform image processing on image data output from the at least one camera and to determine based on the image data whether the at least one accessory is mounted on the power tool and to determine whether the state of the at least one accessory is normal based on at least the determination of whether the at least one accessory is mounted on the power tool.

2. The power tool according to claim 1 , wherein the determining part is configured to infer the state of the at least one accessory by inputting the image data into a trained model obtained by machine learning and to determine whether the state of the at least one accessory is normal.

3. The power tool according to claim 2 , wherein:
the determining part is at least one processor; and
the at least one processor together with memory, which stores the trained model, are configured as one chip.

4. The power tool according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a tool main body;
a motor, which is housed in the tool main body;
a manipulatable member configured to be manually operated by a user;
a main switch configured to turn ON in response to manual manipulation of the manipulatable member; and
a control part configured to control the operation of the power tool based on the state of the main switch and a determination result output by the determining part;
wherein the control part is configured to start the drive of the motor only when the main switch is ON and the determining part has determined that the state of the at least one accessory is normal.

5. The power tool according to claim 4 , wherein:
the determining part is configured to periodically determine, during drive of the motor, whether the state of the at least one accessory is normal; and
the control part is configured to stop the drive of the motor or reduce the rotational speed of the motor during drive of the motor in response to the determining part having determined that the state of the at least one accessory is not normal.

6. The power tool according to claim 4 , wherein the determining part and the control part are separate processors that are wire connected or wirelessly connected to each other.

7. The power tool according claim 1 , further comprising a reporting unit configured to report information indicating abnormal in response to the determining part having determined that the state of the at least one accessory is not normal.

8. The power tool according to claim 1 , comprising:
a detection part configured to detect a prescribed operation of the user;
wherein the at least one camera and the determining part are configured to start in response to the detection part detecting the prescribed operation.

9. The power tool according to claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one accessory is the auxiliary handle;
the determining part is configured to determine that the state of the at least one accessory is normal in response to the determining part determining that the auxiliary handle is mounted on the power tool and the auxiliary handle is being gripped by the user.

10. The power tool according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one camera and the determining part are connected to each other by wire.

11. The power tool according to claim 1 , further comprising a camera guard, which at least partially covers the at least one camera.

12. The power tool according to claim 1 , further comprising a lens hood configured to block light that enters a lens of the at least one camera from one or more specific directions.

13. The power tool according to claim 1 , wherein:
the power tool is a grinder and comprises: (i) a spindle that is configured to be operably coupled to the motor and to be rotated, by the rotational power of the motor, around an axis extending in a direction orthogonal to a rotational axis of the motor; and (ii) a tool main body, which houses the motor and the spindle and is elongate extending along the rotational axis of the motor; and
the at least one camera is disposed on the side opposite the spindle relative to the motor in a longitudinal-axis direction of the tool main body.

14. The power tool according to claim 13 , wherein:
the tool main body comprises a grip part configured to be gripped by the user; and
the at least one camera is disposed at a portion of the tool main body other than the grip part.

15. The power tool according to claim 13 , wherein:
the at least one accessory includes both the auxiliary handle and the cover; and
the at least one camera is only one camera and is disposed at a location where the camera captures an image of both the auxiliary handle and the cover.

16. The power tool according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one camera is at a location that is offset from a drive axis of the tool accessory.

17. The power tool according to claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one camera is disposed in or on a housing of the power tool at a location where the detachable auxiliary handle and/or the detachable cover would be within an image-capturing range of the at least one camera; and
the determining part is configured to determine whether the detachable auxiliary handle and/or the detachable cover is mounted on the power tool by performing image analysis on the image captured by the at least one camera.

18. A power tool, on which at least one accessory is mountable in a detachable manner, comprising:
a plurality of mounting locations, at which the at least one accessory is mountable, defined on the power tool;
only one camera disposed at a location on the power tool where the camera captures an image of the at least one accessory when the at least one accessory has been mounted at any of the plurality of mounting locations; and
a determining part;
wherein:
the at least one accessory is at least one selected from a detachable auxiliary handle and a detachable cover, which is configured to at least partially cover a tool accessory mounted on the power tool; and
the determining part is configured to perform image processing on image data output from the at least one camera and to determine based on the image data whether the at least one accessory is mounted on the power tool and to determine whether the state of the at least one accessory is normal based on at least the determination of whether the at least one accessory is mounted on the power tool.

19. A power tool system comprising:
a power tool on which at least one accessory is mountable in a detachable manner and that comprises at least one camera; and
a determining part configured to infer the state of the at least one accessory and determine whether the state of the at least one accessory is normal by inputting, into a trained model obtained by machine learning, image data of an image captured by the at least one camera.

20. The power tool system according to claim 19 , wherein:
the at least one camera is disposed in or on a housing of the power tool at a location where the at least one accessory would be within an image-capturing range of the at least one camera;
the at least one accessory is a detachable auxiliary handle or a detachable cover, whi

Assignees

• Makita Corp

Inventors

• Hayashi Takumi
• Numata Fumitoshi
• Yakabe Koichi

Classifications

• B25B29/00

  Accessories (specially for spanners, wrenches, screwdrivers B25B23/00; tool boxes, tool positioning stands B25H) · CPC title

• G06N20/00 Primary

  Machine learning · CPC title

• B25F5/00

  Details or components of portable power-driven tools not particularly related to the operations performed and not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• B25F5/02 Primary

  Construction of casings, bodies or handles {(B25F5/006, B25F5/008 take precedence)} · CPC title