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EP-4538442-B1 - VISION-GUIDED STITCHING SYSTEMS AND LOGIC FOR FABRICATING ENGINEERED TEXTILES WITH INTERSTITCHED SUPERPOSED WIRES

EP4538442B1EP 4538442 B1EP4538442 B1EP 4538442B1EP-4538442-B1

Inventors

  • NORDSTROM, MATTHEW D.

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20201030

Claims (15)

  1. An automated manufacturing system (300) for constructing an engineered textile (132) from a workpiece (132') composed of superposed wires (140, 142), the manufacturing system (300) comprising: a movable end effector (302); a stitching head (310) mounted to the movable end effector (302) and including a thread feeder (316) and a sewing needle (320) cooperatively configured to generate stitches; an image capture device (330) mounted to the movable end effector (302) and configured to capture an image of the workpiece (132') and output data indicative thereof; and a system controller (304) operatively connected to the movable end effector (302), the stitching head (310), and the image capture device (330), the system controller (304) being programmed to: receive, from the image capture device (330), the data indicative of the captured image of the workpiece (132'); locate, from the captured image of the workpiece (132'), multiple gaps each defined between a respective quadrangle of the superposed wires (140, 142); command the movable end effector (302) to sequentially move the stitching head (310) to thereby align the sewing needle (320) with each of the gaps; and command the stitching head (310) to insert a succession of stitches within the gaps between the superposed wires (140, 142).
  2. The manufacturing system (300) of claim 1, wherein the system controller (304) is further programmed to: identify, within the captured image of the workpiece (132'), respective sets of intersecting points of the superposed wires (140, 142) defining the quadrangles; and determine, within each of the respective sets, a center of a respective diagonal line segment connecting an opposing pair of the intersecting points, wherein locating the gaps includes designating the center of the diagonal line segment of each of the sets of intersecting points as one of the gaps.
  3. The manufacturing system (300) of claim 1, wherein the system controller (304) is further programmed to: identify, within the captured image of the workpiece (132'), an estimated centerline for each of the superposed wires (140, 142); and construct, within the captured image of the workpiece (132'), the quadrangles of the superposed wires (140, 142) from the estimated centerlines, wherein locating the gaps includes designating a central region within each of the quadrangles between the estimated centerlines as one of the gaps.
  4. The manufacturing system (300) of claim 1, wherein the system controller (304) is further programmed to: identify, within the captured image of the workpiece (132'), two intersecting points of the superposed wires (140, 142) defining two respective corners for each of the quadrangles; and determine, for each of the quadrangles, a central region at a calibrated angle from a line segment connecting the two respective corners and a calibrated distance from one of the respective corners, wherein locating the gaps includes designating the central region of each of the quadrangles as one of the gaps.
  5. The manufacturing system (300) of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the system controller (304) is further programmed to determine path plan data for the stitching head (310) to insert the succession of stitches within the gaps between the superposed wires (140, 142), the path plan data including an origin, a destination, and a stitch route for traversing the stitching head (310) from the origin to the destination.
  6. The manufacturing system (300) of claim 5, wherein the system controller (304) is further programmed to: generate a trace of the stitch route; determine a start position and an end position within the captured image of the workpiece (132'); and superimpose the trace of the stitch route onto the captured image of the workpiece (132') with the origin overlapping the start position and the destination overlapping the end position.
  7. The manufacturing system (300) of claim 6, wherein the system controller (304) is further programmed to: determine a plurality of calibrated alignment points on the stitch route; determine a respective displacement, if any, between each of the calibrated alignment points and a respective alignment location in the image of the workpiece (132'); and determine a respective trace correction to offset each of the respective displacements.
  8. The manufacturing system (300) of any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a workpiece frame (200) configured to retain the superposed wires (140, 142) in a tensioned, crisscrossed pattern.
  9. The manufacturing system (300) of claim 8, wherein the workpiece frame (200) includes a plurality of adjoining casing walls defining an inner frame space across which the workpiece (132') is stretched, and a series of posts projecting from the casing walls and spaced from one another along the perimeter of the inner frame space, the wires being wound around the posts.
  10. The manufacturing system (300) of any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising a position sensor (332) configured to determine real-time positions of the stitching head (310) relative to a calibrated origin position and output sensor signals indicative thereof.
  11. The manufacturing system (300) of claim 10, wherein the system controller (304) is further programmed to: receive, from the position sensor (332), the sensor signals indicative of the real-time positions of the stitching head (310); and determine, from the received sensor signals and the captured image of the workpiece (132'), an estimated distance between each of the real-time positions of the stitching head (310) and a next adjacent one of the gaps, wherein commanding the movable end effector (302) to sequentially move the stitching head (310) includes estimating a plurality of desired trajectories each based on the estimated distance between each of the real-time positions of the stitching head (310) and the respective next adjacent one of the gaps.
  12. The manufacturing system (300) of claim 10 or claim 11, wherein the system controller (304) is further programmed to determine, one-at-a-time in real-time from the received sensor signals and the captured image of the workpiece (132'), the respective next adjacent one of the gaps closest to each of the real-time positions of the stitching head (310).
  13. The manufacturing system (300) of any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the stitching head (310) further includes a needle receiver (322) operable to reciprocally translate the sewing needle (320), a bobbin case (318) operable to feed bobbin thread, and a shuttle hook (328) operable to create a lockstitch between the bobbin thread and a top thread fed from the thread feeder (316).
  14. The manufacturing system (300) of any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the movable end effector (302) includes a support frame (306) attached to a robot arm (308).
  15. The manufacturing system (300) of any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the movable end effector (302) includes a support carriage attached to a slide track frame.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates generally to engineered textiles. More specifically, aspects of this disclosure relate to systems, methods, and devices for automated fabrication of engineered textiles for footwear and apparel. BACKGROUND Articles of footwear, such as shoes, boots, slippers, sandals, and the like, are generally composed of two primary elements: an upper for securing the footwear to a user's foot; and a sole for providing subjacent support to the foot. Uppers may be fabricated from a variety of materials, including textiles, polymers, natural and synthetic leathers, etc., that are stitched or bonded together to form a shell or harness for securely receiving a foot. Many sandals and slippers, for example, have an upper with an open toe and/or open heel construction. Some designs employ an upper that is limited to a series of straps that extend over the user's instep and, optionally, around the ankle. Conversely, boot and shoe designs employ a full upper with a closed toe and heel construction that encases the foot. An ankle opening through a rear quarter portion of the upper provides access to the footwear's interior, facilitating entry and removal of the foot into and from the upper. A shoelace or strap system may be utilized to secure the foot within the upper. A sole structure is mounted to the underside of the upper, positioned between the user's foot and the ground. In many articles of footwear, including athletic shoes and boots, the sole structure is a layered construction that generally incorporates a comfort-enhancing insole, an impact-mitigating midsole, and a surface-contacting outsole. The insole, which may be located partially or entirely within the upper, is a thin and compressible member that provides a contact surface for the underside "plantar" region of the user's foot. By comparison, the midsole is mounted underneath the insole, forming a middle layer of the sole structure. In addition to attenuating ground reaction forces, the midsole may help to control foot motion and impart enhanced stability. Secured underneath the midsole is an outsole that forms the ground-contacting portion of the footwear. The outsole is usually fashioned from a durable, waterproof material that includes tread patterns engineered to improve traction. Footwear that employ a full upper with a closed toe/heel design will conventionally take on multilayer constructions that are formed by joining together a variety of cutout sheet material elements. These sheet elements may be selected to impart wear-resistance, moisture-control, stretchability, flexibility, air-permeability, comfort, etc., to different areas of the upper. To fabricate the upper, the individual elements are first cut from sheet stock to desired shape, and then joined together through stitching, adhesive bonding, or other suitable joining technique. The sheet elements are often joined in an overlapping or layered configuration to impart multiple properties to individual areas. As the number and type of sheet elements incorporated into the upper increases, the time and expense associated with transporting, stocking, cutting, and joining the elements increases proportionately. Waste material from these manufacturing processes also accumulates to a greater degree with the increase in the number and type of sheet elements incorporated into an upper. Moreover, recycling an article of footwear becomes increasingly more difficult for uppers manufactured from a large number of individual sheet elements. EP 3 549 470 A1 describes articles of footwear and methods of making articles of footwear including one or more continuous threads wound around anchor points. The winding of the one or more continuous threads forms a thread pattern that imparts desired characteristics to components of the article of footwear. Thread lines of the thread pattern may be bonded together. Thread lines may be bonded with a bonding layer. DE 20 2017 103295 U1 describes a textile cut piece produced by the following successive steps: (a) a template frame is produced which is shaped according to the circumferential shape or circumferential line of the cut piece to be produced, (b) several successive pins are inserted into the template frame, (c) textile tension threads are looped around the pins in a random distribution as tension thread loops in a first tension thread layer and tensioned, (d) several further tension thread layers are laid on this first tension thread layer in accordance with step (c) until a predetermined uniform thickness of the totality of the superimposed tension thread layers is achieved over the entire surface of the cut piece, (e) the entirety of the tension thread loops laid around each individual pin is fixed by means of fixing threads, (f) the layers of tension threads lying on top of each other are fixed in their relative positions to each other by means of stitching threads, these stitching threads being continuously inserted and