A last extension for a shoe last provides a pattern defining an origin location. The origin location on the last extension can be used to identify locations or points on a last or a shoe component on a last for control of location-critical manufacturing operations, including decorative and functional operations.

The manufacturing of footwear includes the joining of components. The joining may be accomplished with adhesive. The adhesive, such as a polyurethane, is applied as a single-sided adhesive to a footwear component. The application of the adhesive can contaminate the system that is applying the adhesive with intentional over spray of the footwear component. The over spray ensures adequate coverage of the footwear component to allow a sufficient bond. A masking platform of the system masks portions of the system to limit the contamination caused by the over spray. Additionally, material brushes and scrapers may engage with components of the system to remove or limit adhesive contamination on those components. A vision system maps a surface of the footwear component to ensure the adhesive is applied for the specific article.

A system for establishing a junction trace of an assembly includes a surface model creating module, a processing module, and a material inspection module. The assembly includes a first part and a second part assembled with each other. The surface model creating module scans the first part and the second part to separately establish first surface model data and second surface model data. The processing module establishes assembled surface model data according to the first surface model data and the second surface model data, determines a junction region from the assembled surface model data, and determines inspection points mapped on the assembly according to the junction region. The material inspection module inspects materials of the assembly at the inspection points. The processing module establishes a junction trace of the first part and the second part in the assembly according to a material inspection result.

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.

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. In some embodiments, thread lines may be bonded with a bonding layer.

Systems and methods for automatically producing a cord structure are provided herein. In one embodiment, a method comprises automatically forming, with at least one robotic arm, a first plurality of loops in a first plane, and automatically forming, with the at least one robotic arm, a second plurality of loops in a second plane orthogonal to the first plane, the second plurality of loops slippably engaged with the first plurality of loops. In this way, cord structures may be quickly constructed, thereby reducing labor input and expense.

Systems and methods for automatically producing a cord structure are provided herein. In one embodiment, a method comprises automatically forming, with at least one robotic arm, a first plurality of loops in a first plane, and automatically forming, with the at least one robotic arm, a second plurality of loops in a second plane orthogonal to the first plane, the second plurality of loops slippably engaged with the first plurality of loops. In this way, cord structures may be quickly constructed, thereby reducing labor input and expense.

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.

The invention relates to measurement technology and is intended for measuring the shape, the internal dimensions and the flexibility of shoes. The proposed measurement method consists in using probes with indicators, which create tension on the measured surface. A camera and a flat marking band are used for tracing the shape of the internal surface of a shoe. On the basis of the sum of the images, a three-dimensional model of the internal surface of the tested shoe is made, and the flexibility properties are determined by scanning the object with different forces. A device comprises a body, a camera mounted therein, two or more probes with indicators, and a flat marking band. The invention makes it possible to increase accuracy and to reduce the labor intensiveness and time of measurements.

A method and a system are provided to re-create an internal shape of a shoe using a pneumatically-powered inflatable sock. For example, a shoe last used to manufacture a shoe product based on a selected shoe identifier may be identified. A description of the dimensions of the shoe last may be accessed. The description of the dimensions of the shoe last may be expressed as a set of fills per chamber of a sock having a plurality of fillable chambers. The set of fills per chamber may be determined based on the displacement of an inner wall of the sock when the fillable chambers are in an inflated state. Further, an instruction to cause the plurality of fillable chambers to inflate according to the accessed description may be transmitted.