Patent · US11266207B2 · B2 · US
Automated identification and assembly of shoe parts
- (11) Publication number
- US11266207B2
- (21) Application number
- 16/842,379
- (22) Filing date
- 2020-04-07
- (30) Priority date
- 2011-11-18
- (43) Publication date
- 2022-03-08
- (45) Date of grant
- 2022-03-08
- (51) IPC
- A43D 1/08; A43D 11/00; A43D 111/00; A43D 117/00; A43D 119/00; A43D 86/00; A43D 95/00; B25J 9/16; B29C 65/00; B29C 65/08; B29C 65/78; B29L 31/50; G05B 19/4099; G06T 7/73
- (52) CPC
- A43D Machines, tools, equipment or methods for manufacturing or repairing footwear: 86/00, 1/08, 11/00, 111/00, 111/006, 117/00, 119/00, 2200/10, 2200/30, 2200/50, 2200/60, 95/00
- B25J Manipulators; chambers provided with manipulation devices: 9/1687
- B29C Shaping or joining of plastics; shaping of material in a plastic state, not otherwise provided for; after-treatment of the shaped products, e.g. repairing: 65/08, 65/7802, 65/7847, 66/1122, 66/472, 66/71, 66/727, 66/729, 66/7392, 66/7484, 66/8161, 66/8167, 66/863, 66/9672
- B29K Indexing scheme associated with subclasses B29B, B29C or B29D, relating to moulding materials or to materials for {moulds, } reinforcements, fillers or preformed parts, e.g. inserts: 2021/00, 2075/00
- B29L Indexing scheme associated with subclass B29C, relating to particular articles: 2031/50, 2031/505
- F04C Rotary-piston, or oscillating-piston, positive-displacement machines for liquids; rotary-piston, or oscillating-piston, positive-displacement pumps: 2270/0421
- G05B Control or regulating systems in general; functional elements of such systems; monitoring or testing arrangements for such systems or elements: 19/402, 19/4099, 2219/37205, 2219/37555, 2219/39107, 2219/45243
- G06K Graphical data reading; presentation of data; record carriers; handling record carriers: 2209/19
- G06T Image data processing or generation, in general: 2207/30108, 7/73
- G06V Image or video recognition or understanding: 2201/06
- (73) Assignee
- Nike Inc
- (72) Inventors
- Patrick Conall Regan; Kuo-Hung Lee; Chih-Chi Chang; Ming-Feng Jean; Chang-Chu Liao
- (54) Title
- Automated identification and assembly of shoe parts
- (57) 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.
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Claims (20)
- 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.
- 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.
- The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one reference feature comprises an outline of the first shoe part.
- The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one reference feature comprises a perimeter of the first shoe part.
- The method of claim 1, wherein the first shoe part is identified in the image automatically by a computing device.
- The method of claim 1, wherein the part-transfer tool comprises a part-pickup tool that generates a pickup force.
- 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.
- The method of claim 1, further comprising attaching the first shoe part to the second should part using a part-attachment tool.
- The method of claim 8, wherein the part-attachment tool is adapted for stitching, adhering, or welding.
- 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.
- 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.
- The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one reference feature comprises an outline of the first shoe part.
- The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one reference feature comprises a perimeter of the first shoe part.
- The system of claim 10, wherein the part-transfer tool comprises a part-pickup tool adapted to generate a pickup force.
- The system of claim 10, further comprising a part-attachment tool adapted to attach the first shoe part to the second shoe part.
- The system of claim 15, wherein the part-attachment tool is adapted for stitching, adhering, or welding.
- 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.
- The system of claim 10, wherein the computing device is adapted to identify a plurality of different types of shoe parts.
- The system of claim 10, further comprising a backlight adapted to illuminate the first shoe part when the first image is captured.
- 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.
Description
Manufacturing a shoe typically requires various assembly steps, such as forming, placing, and assembling several parts. Some methods of completing these steps, such as those that rely heavily on manual execution, can be resource intensive and can have a high rate of variability.
This summary provides a high-level overview of the disclosure and of various aspects of the invention and introduces a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed-description section below. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in isolation to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In brief and at a high level, this disclosure describes, among other things, the manufacturing and assembly of a shoe, such as an automated placement and attachment 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 may be manipulated in an automated manner. For example, a first identified part may be placed at a desired location on second identified part using a manufacturing tool. Further, the first identified part may be attached to the second identified part using the manufacturing tool.
An exemplary system that positions and attaches a shoe part in an automated manner may have various components, such as an image recorder that records an image depicting a representation of an attachment shoe part.
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Record as JSON
{
"publication_number": "US11266207B2",
"country": "US",
"kind": "B2",
"title": "Automated identification and assembly of shoe parts",
"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.",
"claims": [
"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."
],
"description_excerpt": "Manufacturing a shoe typically requires various assembly steps, such as forming, placing, and assembling several parts. Some methods of completing these steps, such as those that rely heavily on manual execution, can be resource intensive and can have a high rate of variability.\n\nThis summary provides a high-level overview of the disclosure and of various aspects of the invention and introduces a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed-description section below. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in isolation to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter.\n\nIn brief and at a high level, this disclosure describes, among other things, the manufacturing and assembly of a shoe, such as an automated placement and attachment 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 may be manipulated in an automated manner. For example, a first identified part may be placed at a desired location on second identified part using a manufacturing tool. Further, the first identified part may be attached to the second identified part using the manufacturing tool.\n\nAn exemplary system that positions and attaches a shoe part in an automated manner may have various components, such as an image recorder that records an image depicting a representation of an attachment shoe part.",
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}
Record 1,258 of 8,000 in Patents full text (MLC-0201). Request the full dataset.