Hook Tool Head for Pliable Item Automation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automated manufacturing of soft goods, such as shoe uppers, faces challenges in picking up and placing pliable items due to their form and material, requiring innovative gripping solutions to replace manual labor.
Innovation Solution
A tool head system utilizing hook portions from a hook and loop fastener system to engage and move pliable items, with adjustable configurations and actuators to pick up and place items like shoe upper components, allowing for precise engagement and disengagement of fibers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If traditional automated grippers are used to pick up pliable items, then automation is achieved, but the ability to securely hold soft and pliable materials deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the gripping mechanism from traditional rigid gripper fingers to hooks that can engage with the fiber structure of pliable materials. This parameter change in the gripping interface allows automated handling while maintaining secure hold on soft materials through hook engagement with material fibers rather than relying on compressive force alone
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces hooks as an intermediary element between the automated gripper and the pliable material. These hooks act as a mediator that can penetrate and engage with the fiber structure of soft materials, enabling reliable automated gripping without directly compressing or damaging the material
2Productivity
If manual labor is used to pick up and place pliable items, then handling precision is maintained, but productivity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical dexterity of human operators with an automated hook-based gripping system. The hooks can be actuated by automated mechanisms to engage and disengage from material fibers, providing automated handling capability that maintains precision while significantly increasing productivity through faster cycle times
3Reliability
If hooks are used to engage fibers of pliable items, then gripping reliability is improved, but device complexity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the gripping function into multiple independent hooks rather than using a single complex gripper mechanism. Each hook can independently engage with fiber structures, and the hooks can be arranged in arrays or patterns on the tool face, allowing reliable engagement through distributed contact points while keeping individual hook elements simple
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables efficient automation of picking up and placing pliable items, improving manufacturing efficiency by allowing for precise control and placement of soft goods components, reducing manual labor in the production of shoe uppers and similar products.
Implementation Method 1
uses at least the hook portions of a hook and loop fastener system to pick up and place one or more pliable item with fibers that may be engaged by the hooks
Data Source
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AI summary
An item with fibers may be picked up and placed using a tool head with hooks that engage the fibers. The tool head may comprise at least one hook portion and at least one contact surface adjacent to the hook portion. The hooks that engage the fibers may extend from the hook portion. The tool head may be actuatable between at least a first configuration that permits the hooks to engage the fibers and a second configuration that does not permit the hooks to engage the fibers. An item may be picked up at a starting location with a tool head in the first configuration and placed at a placement location by moving the tool head and then actuating the tool head to the second configuration.