CN110917586A

CN110917586A - Full-automatic racket threading system

Info

Publication number: CN110917586A
Application number: CN201810997312.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 林奂祥
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2018-08-29
Filing date: 2018-08-29
Publication date: 2020-03-27
Anticipated expiration: 2038-08-29
Also published as: CN110917586B

Abstract

The invention relates to a full-automatic racket stringing system, which comprises a racket fixing frame, a control unit, an image capturing device and a mechanical arm. The racket fixing frame is used for fixing the racket frame. The image capturing device is coupled to the control unit. The mechanical arm is coupled with the control unit. When the racket is fixed to the racket fixing frame, the control unit controls the image capturing device to capture images so as to obtain hole position information of the racket, and then the control unit controls the mechanical arm to take out the string pulling head according to the hole position information of the racket so as to carry out string threading operation.

Description

Full-automatic racket threading system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a technique of racket stringing machine, and more particularly, to a fully automatic racket stringing system.

Background

At present, the stringing of the racket is manual stringing no matter the racket or the tennis racket. There are indeed racket stringing machines at present, however, the so-called racket stringing machines are only devices that assist racket stringing operators in racket stringing, and cannot achieve automatic stringing. The stringing of the racket has great influence on the sportsman. Especially, the pound of the racket is too low, which results in poor control force to the ball and easy force dispersion during hitting the ball. If the pound is too high, it will cause a relatively large effort to play the long ball, and the requirements for wrist strength and arm strength are high.

Moreover, the quality of the racket is almost completely determined by the power of a racket stringing master. Generally, a stringing master needs at least half a year of training time, and after the training is finished, a racket needs at least more than half an hour to finish the stringing operation. Therefore, in the production of rackets, the yield cannot be improved. In addition, the user often breaks or loosens the strings after using the racket for a period of time, which requires rethreading the racket. At this point, the user must buy a new racquet, take the damaged racquet back to the store, or ask a professional stringing master to rethread. Therefore, the problem of needing to rethread the racket after a period of use often causes trouble and trouble for the racket user.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present invention is to provide a full-automatic racket stringing machine, which uses a robot arm and a camera to detect the hole information of a racket, and records the hole information, and automatically strings through the robot arm, so as to achieve the effects of racket mass production and re-string.

In view of the above, the present invention provides a fully automatic racket stringing system. The full-automatic racket stringing system comprises a racket fixing frame, a control unit, an image capturing device and a mechanical arm. The racket fixing frame is used for fixing the racket frame. The image capturing device is coupled to the control unit. The mechanical arm is coupled with the control unit. When the racket is fixed to the racket fixing frame, the control unit controls the image capturing device to capture images so as to obtain hole position information of the racket, and then the control unit controls the mechanical arm to take out the string pulling head according to the hole position information of the racket so as to carry out string threading operation.

According to the fully automatic racket stringing system of the present invention, the image capturing device is disposed on the robot arm, and when the racket frame is fixed to the racket frame, the control unit controls the robot arm to move around the racket frame and controls the image capturing device to capture an image, so as to obtain the hole position information of the racket frame.

The fully automatic racket stringing system according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention further includes a plurality of image capturing devices disposed around the racket frame, wherein the plurality of image capturing devices are coupled to the control unit. When the racket frame is fixed to the racket fixing frame, the control unit controls the image capturing devices to capture images so as to obtain hole position information of the racket frame.

According to the fully automatic racket stringing system of the present invention, the racket frame at least comprises a fixer for fixing the positioned string when the string is pulled. The full-automatic racket threading system further comprises a thread puller, wherein in the threading operation, after the mechanical arm penetrates out the hole of the racket frame, the mechanical arm fixes the thread to the thread puller and tightens the thread to a preset pound. In addition, when threading, the control unit includes an initialization program, and the control unit obtains the model of the racket frame, the pressure resistance of the racket frame and the hole position information through the initialization program. The threading operation at least comprises a straight threading step, a transverse threading step and a knotting and trimming step.

The fully automatic racket stringing system according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention further includes a second robot arm for fixing the string that has been positioned. In addition, the fully automatic racket stringing system according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention further includes a third robot arm, wherein the third robot arm and the robot arm cooperate to respectively perform upward and downward stringing in a horizontal stringing process.

According to the fully automatic racket threading system of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, during the threading operation, an error detection and correction mode is performed simultaneously, wherein in the error detection and correction mode, the image capturing device continuously captures the racket frame and transmits the frame back to the control unit, the control unit analyzes the transmitted image for error detection, and when the control unit detects that an error occurs, the control unit controls the robot arm to stop operating and return to a state where no error occurs before, so as to correct the error and continue the threading operation.

The invention aims to arrange a mechanical arm, a control circuit and an image capturing device on a threading machine platform, detect hole information of a racket by using the mechanical arm and the image capturing device, record the hole information in the control circuit, and automatically thread by controlling the mechanical arm by the control circuit so as to achieve the effects of racket mass production and re-threading.

In order to make the aforementioned and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention comprehensible, preferred embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a fully automatic racket stringing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an initialization procedure according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the vertical threading of a racquet frame in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a fully automatic racket stringing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a fully automatic racket stringing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a fully automatic racket stringing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of the steps of a fully automatic racquet stringing process according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

120: racket fixing frame

122: fixing device

130: control unit

140. 145: image capturing device

150. 155: mechanical arm

170: racket frame

122: fixing device

180: racket frame

S700 to S760: all the steps of the full-automatic racket stringing

Detailed Description

In embodiments and claims, spatially relative terms, such as "under", "below", "lower", "above", "upper" and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one component or feature's corresponding relationship to another component(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device is turned over in the figures, elements or features described as "below" or "beneath" would then be oriented "above," such that the exemplary term "below" can include both above and below orientations. If the device is otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations), the spatially relative terms used herein are intended to be interpreted accordingly.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a fully automatic racket stringing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 1, the racket stringing system includes a racket frame 120, a control unit 130, an image capturing device 140 and a robot arm 150. In addition, fig. 1 also includes a racquet frame 170 ready for threading. The racket frame is provided with a plurality of holes for subsequent threading. The image capturing device 140 is, for example, a camera, and is disposed on the robot 150. The racket frame 120, the image capturing apparatus 140 and the robot 150 are respectively coupled to the control unit 130.

When the racket frame 170 is placed on the racket frame 120, the racket frame 120 is automatically adjusted in position to fix the racket frame 170. The control unit 130 controls the image capturing device 140 to capture an image and transmits the captured image back to the control unit 130, and the control unit 130 performs image analysis on the received image to obtain the hole position information of the racket frame. Then, the control unit 130 controls the robot arm 150 to take out the string pulling head according to the hole position information of the racket frame, so as to start the string pulling operation. Since the image capturing device 140 is disposed on the robot arm 150, when the racket frame is fixed to the racket frame, the control unit 130 controls the robot arm 150 to move around the racket frame 120, and controls the image capturing device 140 to capture a plurality of images and transmit the images to the control unit 130, so as to obtain the hole position information of the entire racket frame.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the racket frame 120 has a plurality of clips for fixing the racket frame. In addition, the racket frame 120 includes at least one fixing device 122 for fixing the positioned string during the string pulling.

The threading program is installed in the control unit 130, for example, with a specific threading software. Before starting threading, the threading software performs an initialization procedure. The initialization procedure at least includes the control unit 130 determining whether a racket is placed on the table and determining the integrity of the racket frame (e.g., checking whether the racket frame has a crack). After confirming the integrity of the racquet frame, the control unit 130 will obtain the hole position information according to the image analysis. The initialization procedure includes a plurality of steps, and please refer to fig. 2. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an initialization procedure according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The initialization procedure includes the following steps. S210: and judging whether a racket is placed on the machine table. S220: the integrity of the racquet frame is determined. If both of the above two determinations are affirmative, go to step S230. When any of the above-mentioned judgement results is negative, it returns to an initialized standby state. Further, the step S230: and obtaining hole position information according to image analysis. Since the determining steps (S210 and S220) and the hole detecting step S230 both utilize the image obtained by the capturing device 140, and the control unit performs image analysis, the determining and detecting steps can be performed. Therefore, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the above steps S210, S220 and S230 are performed simultaneously or separately, and the initialization sequence can be determined by the designer according to the actual hardware or design requirements. In addition, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the initializing step may further include detecting basic information of the racquet frame, such as the model, appearance, pressure resistance, integrity, etc. of the racquet frame. Since the hole position, material, etc. of each racquet frame are not necessarily the same, the fully automatic racquet stringing system can be applied to different types of racquet frames through the initialization procedure.

Next, the threading software will perform parameter setting according to the basic information of the racket obtained from the initialization step. The setting may be set by the control unit 130 based on basic information of the racquet frame, or may be manually input to the control unit 130. The set parameters include, for example, pound of thread, number of threads, number of knots, and knotting manner. Wherein the racket frame is, for example, a frame of a badminton. However, the present invention can also be applied to tennis rackets, squash rackets, etc., and thus, the above examples should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

Then, the control unit 130 starts the full-automatic threading procedure by controlling the thread drawing machine 110, the image capturing device 140 and the robot 150. First, the control unit 130 controls the robot arm 150 to grab the string head by using the previously obtained hole position information, and sequentially extends the string to both sides from the vertical middle of the racket frame 170 to perform a straight-direction threading procedure. Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic view of the vertical threading of the racket frame according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. During threading, the robot 150 can directly pull the thread to the required pound according to the thread pulling pound in the above setting parameters. In addition, after the robot arm 150 pulls the string to the fixed position, the holder of the racket holder 120 automatically fixes the string with the fixed strength, so that the robot arm 150 can thread the next hole to complete the straight threading in sequence. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the fully automatic racquet stringing system further includes a string puller (not shown), which is attached to the string puller to pull the string to a set point pound after the robotic arm 150 pulls the string through the hole of the frame during the stringing process.

After the vertical threading is completed, the control unit 130 controls the robot arm 150 to take out the string end by using the position information of the hole obtained before, and starts a horizontal threading from the hole of the side of the racket frame 170. In the process of transverse threading, because the straight line of the racket frame is threaded, the transverse line needs to be threaded in a mode of passing through the gap between the straight line up and down. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the racket stringing system comprises, for example, two robotic arms, which are respectively responsible for upward and downward stringing to increase the speed of stringing. Similarly, during the wire pulling process, the robot 150 directly pulls the wire to the required pound number according to the wire pulling pound number in the above setting parameters, or completes the required line segment strength through a wire puller.

After the transverse threading is completed, the control unit 130 will control the robot arm to perform the procedures of tying and cutting the binding thread. The integrity of the racquet is then checked by the image capture device 140. The knotting and binding-wire of the embodiment of the present invention is, for example, a general flat knot, however, the knotting and binding-wire is not limited to the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the knotting and binding-wire.

The full-automatic racket threading system can finish all threading procedures (straight and horizontal) by only using one string, and finally, knotting and trimming are carried out. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the fully automatic racket stringing system may also perform the knotting and trimming process after the straight stringing process is completed, and then perform the horizontal stringing process with another string. Therefore, the invention does not limit the number of the lines, and the full-automatic racket threading system can use a single line, double lines or a plurality of lines to carry out threading procedures.

In the embodiment of fig. 1, a robot arm 150 is disposed in the fully automatic racket stringing system, and is used with the racket fixing frame 120 to perform the stringing and string-pulling process. In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, two or more robots may be provided in the fully automatic racket stringing system to simultaneously perform the stringing and fixing operations, as shown in fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a fully automatic racket stringing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 4 shows a robot arm 155 added to fig. 1. In the present embodiment, the robot arm 155 is used for stationary work while the robot arm 150 is performing the stringing process, so in the embodiment of fig. 3, the fully automatic racket stringing system may not need the holder 122.

In embodiments of the present invention, the automatic racquet stringing system may also include a plurality of racquet stands 180. When the stringing of the racket 170 in the racket frame 120 is completed, the control unit 130 determines whether the racket frame 180 is disposed in a new racket frame through the image capturing device 140. When it is judged that the racket frame is placed in the racket frame 180, the automatic racket stringing system continuously takes out a new racket frame from the racket frame 180 and places the new racket frame in the racket frame 180 to continuously perform the automatic stringing process. By analogy, the control unit 130 controls the robot arm to take the racket frames of the racket frame in sequence, so as to perform the automatic threading procedure in sequence. In fig. 1, the automatic racquet stringing system comprises a plurality of racquet stands, however, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the number of racquet stands, which may be set by a designer or user depending on the actual application and depending on hardware limitations.

In addition, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the fully automatic racket stringing system may also include 4 robot arms, as shown in fig. 5. Referring to fig. 5, the fully automatic racket stringing system includes four

robot arms

151, 152, 153 and 154. In the process of performing the straight threading, the

robot arms

151 and 152 start the threading procedure to the left side from the vertical middle, for example. Meanwhile, the

robot arms

153 and 154 perform threading procedure to the right side from the vertical middle, for example. Similarly, when performing transverse threading, the four

robot arms

151, 152, 153 and 154 may also be performed simultaneously to speed up the threading and wire pulling. In the embodiments shown in fig. 4 and 5, the fully automatic racket stringing system disclosed in the present invention can be configured with one to 4 mechanical arms. Therefore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention does not limit the number of robots to be used, and that a product designer may determine the number of robots based on actual budget and hardware and software constraints, and a system may include 1 to more robots. In addition, in the fully automatic racket stringing system according to the present invention, the number of the fastening devices may be determined according to the actual hardware design, for example, the mechanical arm directly replaces the fastening devices or a plurality of fastening devices are used, so the present invention does not limit the number of the fastening devices.

In the above embodiments, the image capturing apparatus 140 is configured on the robot 150. In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the image capturing device 140 can also be configured at a fixed position, as shown in FIG. 6. Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a fully automatic racket stringing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 6, an image capturing device 145 is added, and in this embodiment, the original image capturing device 140 is not disposed on the robot 150. In addition, as can be seen from the embodiments of fig. 1 and 6, the image capturing device can be movably disposed on the robot arm directly to detect the precise hole position. Meanwhile, the position of the image capturing device may also be fixed. Therefore, those skilled in the art should appreciate that the present invention is not limited to the number of image capturing devices and the location of the image capturing devices. When the number of image capturing devices in the system is large, the image data returned to the control unit 130 is also increased, and although the amount of calculation is increased by the control unit 130, the control unit 130 can more grasp the actual working state and the position of the hole to perform a threading procedure more accurately.

The image capturing device can continuously capture the frame of the racket and transmit the frame to the control unit 130 during the whole operation of the threading and pulling. The control unit 130 analyzes the returned image during threading to detect errors. When the control unit 130 detects that an error occurs, it will immediately stop operating and return to the state where no error occurred before. After correcting the error, the system will continue to start threading and pulling.

As described in the foregoing embodiments, the embodiment of the present invention can be summarized as a fully automatic racket stringing process, referring to fig. 7, including the following steps:

step S700: starting the full-automatic racket stringing step.

Step S710: the detailed steps of the initialization procedure are shown in fig. 2. From the hole position information, the control unit 130 can also determine a number of preset holes needed to complete the straight threading, and also determine a number of preset holes needed to complete the transverse threading.

Step S720: and (5) performing a straight threading procedure. The method of the straight threading is as described in the description of fig. 3. In addition, in the straight threading procedure, when the robot arm 150 finishes threading to the first hole, the control unit 130 counts to 1, and then, after the robot arm 150 finishes threading to the second hole, the control unit 130 counts to 2. By analogy, when the control unit 130 counts the number of the preset holes in the straight direction in the step S710, it determines that the straight threading procedure is completed.

Step S730: and (5) performing a transverse threading procedure. The method of transverse threading is described in detail in the embodiment of fig. 1, and thus is not described again. In the transverse threading procedure, when the robot 150 finishes threading to the transverse hole once, the control unit 130 also adds 1 to the counted number of times until the threaded hole number reaches the preset transverse preset hole number, and then finishes the transverse threading procedure.

Step S740: and performing procedures of tying and shearing the binding wires.

Step S750: it is determined whether there is a racquet frame ready for stringing on the racquet frame 180. If it is determined to be affirmative, the process goes to step S760 and then returns to step S710. If the determination is negative, step S770 is performed.

Step S760: the robot arm 150 places the racket frame on the racket frame 180 on the racket frame 120.

Step S770: and finishing the full-automatic racket stringing step.

The present invention does not limit the execution sequence of the steps, and a system designer may adjust the sequence of the steps, delete any step, or add any step according to the preference of a user or the limitation of hardware. For example, the present invention may also perform the transverse threading first and then perform the straight threading, and the step S720 is aligned with the step S730. Furthermore, after the straight threading procedure in step S720, the present invention may also perform tying and trimming of the binding thread first, and then perform transverse threading to add a new binding thread and trimming. Therefore, the fully automatic racket stringing steps proposed by the present invention are not limited to the priorities of the above steps.

The threading program is installed in the control unit 130, for example, with a specific threading software. The threading software is, for example, artificial intelligence and has an automatic learning function. When threading is wrong, besides the software can control the mechanical arm to reverse back to the previous step, the error occurrence condition can be recorded. By this, when the same threading condition next time, can finely tune robotic arm's operation through artificial intelligence, if the mistake takes place once more, then take notes, finely tune once more, consequently, through artificial intelligence, can increase along with the number of times of operation, let the threading operation more accurate, the fault rate is lower. In addition, after the threading program, the threading software records the type of the racket frame and the corresponding user's setting so as to plan the user's preference for threading (such as knotting mode, pounds of threading, etc.). Therefore, after a plurality of threading procedures are carried out, the threading software with artificial intelligence can directly and automatically carry out corresponding setting according to past records, and a racket which is satisfactory to a user is finished.

In view of the above, the present invention is directed to a stringing machine having a robot arm, a control unit and an image capturing device, wherein the robot arm and the image capturing device are used to detect the hole information of a racket and record the hole information in a control circuit, and the control circuit controls the robot arm to perform automatic stringing to replace the prior manual and semi-automatic racket stringing techniques. Therefore, the design principle of the invention is that after the racket is fixed, one or more image capturing devices are applied to detect the hole position so as to measure the correct position of the racket hole, and meanwhile, the control software is matched to operate mechanical devices such as a robot arm, an automatic machine and the like to perform the action of automatic threading. After the mechanical device is matched with a racket hole position detection mechanism, the mechanical device is matched with a control unit and software, and the robot works like a robot with eyes and a brain to thread a needle and a lead, so that the effects of racket volume production and stringing are achieved.

The detailed description of the preferred embodiments is provided only for the convenience of illustrating the technical contents of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments in a narrow sense, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention and the scope of the claims. Therefore, the protection scope of the invention is subject to the claims.

Claims

1. A full-automatic racket stringing system, comprising:

a racket fixing frame for fixing a racket frame;

a control unit;

an image capture device coupled to the control unit; and

a mechanical arm coupled to the control unit,

when the racket frame is fixed to the racket fixing frame, the control unit controls the image capturing device to capture images so as to obtain hole position information of the racket frame, and then the control unit controls the mechanical arm to take out the string pulling head according to the hole position information of the racket frame so as to carry out string threading operation.

2. The fully automatic racket stringing system of claim 1 further comprising:

a racket frame arranged at one side of the mechanical arm for placing a racket frame to be threaded,

the control unit is characterized in that the control unit judges whether the racket frame is configured on the racket frame or not through the image capturing device, and when the judgment is positive, the control unit controls the mechanical arm to place the racket frame on the racket fixing frame.

3. The fully automatic racket stringing system of claim 1, wherein said image capturing device is configured on said robot arm, and when a racket frame is fastened to said racket frame, said control unit controls said robot arm to move around said racket frame and controls said image capturing device to capture an image to obtain hole position information of said racket frame.

4. The fully automatic racket stringing system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of image capturing devices disposed around the racket frame, wherein the image capturing devices are coupled to the control unit, wherein the control unit controls the image capturing devices to capture images when the racket frame is fastened to the racket frame, so as to obtain the hole position information of the racket frame.

5. The fully automatic racket stringing system of claim 1, wherein said racket mounting bracket comprises at least one fastener for fastening a string that has been positioned during stringing.

6. The fully automatic racket stringing system of claim 1, further comprising an initialization program, wherein the control unit obtains the type of racket frame, the pressure resistance of racket frame and the hole position information through the initialization program.

7. The fully automatic racquet stringing system as in claim 1, wherein said stringing operation includes at least a straight stringing step, a cross stringing step and a knotting and trimming step.

8. The fully automatic racquet stringing system of claim 1, further comprising a wire puller, wherein the robot arm secures the wire to the wire puller and pulls the wire to a predetermined pound after the robot arm pulls the wire through the hole in the racquet frame during the stringing operation.

9. The fully automated racquet stringing system of claim 1, further comprising a second robot arm for securing the strung string in place.

10. The fully automatic racquet stringing system of claim 1, further comprising a third robot arm, wherein the robot arm and the third robot arm cooperate to respectively handle up and down stringing in a cross-line stringing process.

11. The fully automated racquet stringing system as recited in claim 1, wherein the racquet frame is a racquet frame.

12. The fully automatic racket stringing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein an error detection and correction mode is performed simultaneously during the stringing operation, wherein in the error detection and correction mode, the image capturing device continuously shoots the racket frame and transmits the racket frame back to the control unit, the control unit analyzes the transmitted image for error detection, and when the control unit detects that an error occurs, the control unit controls the robot arm to stop operating and return to a state that no error occurs before, so as to correct the error and continue the stringing operation.