Automated manufacturing of shoe parts

摘要

Manufacturing of a shoe or a portion of a shoe is enhanced by executing various shoe-manufacturing processes in an automated fashion. For example, information describing a shoe part may be determined, such as an identification, an orientation, a color, a surface topography, an alignment, a size, etc. Based on the information describing the shoe part, automated shoe-manufacturing apparatuses may be instructed to apply various shoe-manufacturing processes to the shoe part.

主权项

1. A method for manufacturing shoe parts in an automated manner, the method comprising:
positioning a first shoe part at a first manufacturing station, wherein a part-recognition system determines a first identity of the first shoe part and determines a first orientation and first location of the first shoe part; retrieving a second shoe part from a second manufacturing station, wherein the part-recognition system determines a second identity of the second shoe part and determines a second orientation of the second shoe part; using a part-manufacturing apparatus to transfer the second shoe part onto the first shoe part by transferring the second shoe part from its second orientation to a third orientation relative to the first shoe part, which is determined based on the first orientation and the first identity of the first shoe part; and using the part-manufacturing apparatus, which transferred the second shoe part, to temporarily attach the second shoe part to the first shoe part to maintain positioning for downstream processing.