Robot and method for sewing an object

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12553166-B2
Application number	US-202418926502-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 25, 2024
Priority date	May 24, 2022
Publication date	Feb 17, 2026
Grant date	Feb 17, 2026

Abstract

Embodiments of present disclosure relates to a robot and method for sewing an object. The robot includes a first robotic arm adapted to hold a needle, the needle carrying a length of a thread, a second robotic arm adapted to hold the needle, and a controller configured to move the first and second robotic arms to perform a plural of sewing operations so as to form a plural of stitches on the object A sewing operation includes moving the first robotic arm a first distance to cause the needle to penetrate a part of the object; and moving the second robotic arm to hold a penetration portion of the needle and pull the whole needle out of the object after the needle being released by the first robotic arm.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A robot for sewing an object, comprising:
a first robotic arm adapted to hold a needle, the needle, carrying a length of a thread, a second robotic arm adapted to hold the needle, and a controller configured to move the first and second robotic arm to perform a plural of sewing operations so as to form a plural of stitches on the object, each sewing operation comprising:
moving the first robotic arm a first distance to cause the needle to penetrate a part of the object; and
moving the second robotic arm to hold a penetration portion of the needle and pull the whole needle out of the object after the needle being released by the first robotic arm;
wherein the object includes a flexible outer surface and pre-stitches formed on the outer surface, each of the pre-stitch includes a thread section including a top side and an opposite bottom side facing the outer surface, and the controller is configured to cause the needle to go across the thread section along a path defined between the bottom side of the thread section and the outer surface of the object; wherein for the each sewing operation the controller is configured to:
determine a position to be sewed which corresponds to a thread section of the pre-stitches;
move the needle to a ready position at a first lateral side of the thread section which is offset from the position to be sewed by an offset distance;
determine a posture of the needle such that a longitudinal axis of the needle is tangent to the outer surface of the object at which the path is located; and
move the needle the first distance from the first lateral side of the thread section to a second opposite lateral side of the thread section with the needle in the determined posture to cause the needle to go across the thread section, the first distance being larger than the offset distance.

2 . The robot according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to:
depress the needle in a direction perpendicular to the outer surface at the ready position toward the outer surface so as to deform the outer surface of the object; and linearly move the needle the first distance from the first lateral side of the thread section to the second opposite lateral side of the thread section, with the needle being maintained at the depressed state.

3 . The robot according to claim 1 , further comprising a camera configured to capture an image of the object, the controller being configured to identify a plural of positions to be sewed based on the image from the camera.

4 . The robot according to claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to generate a sewing pattern which defines the positions to be sewed in order based on the identified plural of positions to be sewed.

5 . The robot according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second robotic arm are adapted to adjust a gripping length of the needle respectively so that a tip of the needle is located to the same position relative to the respective robotic arms.

6 . The robot according to claim 5 , wherein the first robotic arm is adapted to hold a root portion of the needle, and the second robotic arm is adapted to hold a tip portion of the needle.

7 . The robot according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to handover, for each sewing operation, the needle held by the second robotic arm back to the first robotic arm, and to perform a subsequent sewing operation by repeating the each sewing operation.

8 . The robot according to claim 1 , wherein the object comprises a cover pre-wrapped around a steering wheel, the cover being made of leather, leatherette, or fabric, and the cover comprises two rows of plural of pre-stitches adjacent to each other which define a sewing region for the sewing operations.

9 . The robot according to claim 1 , further comprising a second camera configured to capture an image of the object, the controller being configured to visually inspect the object based on the image from the second camera and to provide an inspection result indicating a suitability of whether the object can be sewed by the apparatus before the sewing operation or indicating a sewing quality after the sewing operation.

10 . The robot according to claim 1 , further comprising a thread drawing device configured to draw a loose part of the thread at a fixed end from the fixed end to a movable end, the thread comprising the fixed end fixed on the object and a movable end tied to the needle.

11 . The robot according to claim 10 , wherein the thread drawing device comprises:
a drive assembly comprising a drive wheel comprising a working platform for supporting the thread on the needle carried by the second robotic arm, a press assembly comprising a pressing member configured to move between a first position at which the pressing member engages the working platform to clamp the thread to be pulled therebetween and a second position at which the pressing member disengages from the working platform to release the thread to be pulled; and a motor configured to rotate the drive wheel when the pressing member is at the first position so as to draw the loose part of the thread at the fixed end to the movable end.

12 . The robot according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a device for adjusting sewn threads on the object, wherein the device for adjusting sewn threads comprises an adjusting tool, wherein the adjusting tool is caused to partially go across the sewn threads along a path defined between a bottom side of one sewn thread and an outer surface of the object and are moved upward away from the outer surface so as to adjust pitches between the sewn stitches, wherein the sewn thread comprise a first end fixed to the object and a second end, a plural of stitches are formed across a sewing zone on the object between the first end and the second end, and each stitch comprises the thread section including a top side and the opposite bottom side.

13 . A method for sewing an object, comprising
moving a first robotic arm a first distance to cause a needle held by the first robotic arm to penetrate a part of the object; moving a second robotic arm to hold a penetration portion of the needle and pull the whole needle out of the object after the needle being released by the first robotic arm; placing a part of a thread by the second robotic arm on a member of a thread drawing device; and operate the thread drawing device to draw a loose part of the thread at a fixed end from the fixed end to a second end, the thread comprising the fixed end fixed on the object and a second end tied to the needle.

14 . The method according to claim 13 , further comprising transferring the needle held by the second robotic arm back to the first robotic arm, and to perform a subsequent sewing operation.

15 . A robot for sewing an object, comprising:
a first robotic arm adapted to hold a needle, the needle, carrying a length of a thread, a second robotic arm adapted to hold the needle, and a controller configured to move the first and second robotic arm to perform a plural of sewing operations so as to form a plural of stitches on the object, each sewing operation comprising:
moving the first robotic arm a first distance to cause the needle to penetrate a part of the object; and
moving the second robotic arm to hold a penetration portion of the needle and pull the whole needle out of the object after the needle being released by the first robotic arm;
wherein the object comprises a cover pre-wrapped around a steering wheel, the cover being made of leather, leatherette, or fabric, and the cover comp

Assignees

• Abb Schweiz Ag

Inventors

• Dong Yiming
• He Haiyang
• Yang Jibo
• Lu Qi

Classifications

• D05B1/20

  Overedge seams · CPC title

• D05B69/30

  Details (work-feeding drives D05B27/00; needle-bar drives D05B55/14; loop-taker drives D05B57/30) · CPC title

• B25J11/00

  Manipulators not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• B25J9/0087

  Dual arms (double SCARA arms B25J9/043) · CPC title

• D05B19/14 Primary

  Control of needle movement, e.g. varying amplitude or period of needle movement · CPC title