Acquisition or pick-up tools that themselves aid in improving the ease with which images of an acquired substrate may be captured, and methods of operating such pick-up tools, are provided. The pick-up tools may include a pick-up surface adapted to interface with a foreign substrate and a light source integrated with the pick-up tool such that light emitted from the light source passes through the pick-up surface to the foreign substrate when the foreign substrate is temporarily coupled with the pick-up surface to create a silhouette of the foreign substrate. A vision system may be adapted for capturing the silhouette of the foreign substrate when the foreign substrate is temporarily coupled with the pick-up surface. The substrate pick-up surface may be formed of one of a transparent, a semi-transparent, or a translucent material such that light may at least partially pass there through.

Molded rubber objects may be molded and de-molded by defining both a desired final form for the molded rubber object and a tab extending from the final form of the molded rubber object using a cavity in a mold. Rubber pellets may be dispensed in predetermined amounts at desired location(s) within the cavity to provide the rubber needed to form the molded rubber object. Heat and pressure may be applied to the mold to cause the rubber pellets to fill the cavity defining both the desired final form of the molded rubber object and the tab. After the heat and pressure has been applied, a gripping device may grasp the tab and move the tab in a direction and with sufficient force to peel the rubber object from the mold cavity. If desired, the tab may be removed from the molded rubber object.

Manufacturing of a shoe or a portion of a shoe is enhanced by executing various shoe-manufacturing processes in an automated manner. For example, shoe parts may be retrieved and temporarily assembled according to preset relative positions to form part stacks. The part stacks may be retrieved with the relative positioning of the shoe parts being maintained and placed at a stitching machine for more permanent attachment via stitching of the parts to form a shoe assembly. Movement during stitching of a conveyance mechanism that transfers the part stack from the stacking surface to the stitching machine and movement of a needle associated with the stitching machine may be controlled by a shared control mechanism such that the movements are synchronized with respect to one another. Vision systems may be leveraged to achieve movement and position information between and at machines and locations.

A robotic coordinate measurement machine (CMM) having a contact direction sensitive (CDS) probe is usable to detect internal dimensions for an object of interest. A robot arm may contact a surface with the CDS probe which may then detect a magnitude and direction of the resulting reaction force. The robotic CMM may monitor the magnitude and/or direction of the reaction force while the CDS probe is being slide across a surface to determine dimensions for the surface. Changes in the reaction force sensed by the CDS probe may be used to identify contact with other surfaces of contours in the surface the CDS probe is being slid across. A path of the CDS probe may be altered based on the contact with other surfaces or the contours.

A method is provided for making footwear utilizing a spray-on material. The method can include spraying a spray-on fabric onto surfaces of a three dimensional last. The last can be produced using additive manufacturing techniques, such as 3D printing, based on data corresponding to dimensions and contours of a consumer's foot, and/or preselected aesthetic footwear designs. The spray-on fabric is sprayed onto the surfaces of the last and allowed to cure to form a flexible, non-woven fabric upper. The upper can be removed from the last and turned inside out. With the upper turned inside out, a sole can be joined to the fabric upper to form the footwear.

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, such as a pickup and placement of the shoe part with a pickup tool.

A method for joining a sole element with an upper element includes the steps of (a) operating a positioning system to position the sole element and the upper element in a defined first position with respect to each other, (b) operating the positioning system to position the sole element and the upper element in a second position for applying a joining agent to the sole element and/or the upper element and (c) joining the sole element with the upper element by operating the positioning system to position the sole element in contact with the upper element in a third position of the positioning system, wherein the third position is defined with respect to the first position.

A needle assembly for a stitching machine comprises a stitching jig comprising a needle holder, a needle clamp hoop and a fixing jig. The needle holder has needle sockets to hold a plurality of needles. The needle clamp hoop is connected to the needle holder to retain needles in the sockets. The fixing jig is connected to the needle clamp hoop to couple with a reciprocating bar of the stitching machine. A method for manufacturing an article of footwear upper comprises laying out a first sheet of material; positioning a second sheet of material to overlap with the first sheet of material at an overlap; positioning a felt material adjacent the overlap so that the second sheet of material is between the first sheet of material and the felt material; and felting the felt material to draw fibers of the felt material through the first and second sheets of material.

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.

Molded rubber objects may be molded and de-molded by defining both a desired final form for the molded rubber object and a tab extending from the final form of the molded rubber object using a cavity in a mold. Rubber pellets may be dispensed in predetermined amounts at desired location(s) within the cavity to provide the rubber needed to form the molded rubber object. Heat and pressure may be applied to the mold to cause the rubber pellets to fill the cavity defining both the desired final form of the molded rubber object and the tab. After the heat and pressure has been applied, a gripping device may grasp the tab and move the tab in a direction and with sufficient force to peel the rubber object from the mold cavity. If desired, the tab may be removed from the molded rubber object.