TWI696479B - Racket stringing system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a racket stringing system. The automatic racket stringing system includes a racket holder, a control unit, an image capture device and a robotic arm. The racket holder is for holding a frame of the racket. The image capture device is coupled to the control unit. The robotic arm is coupled to the control unit. When the racket is held by the racket holder, the control unit controls the image capture device to perform the image capture to obtain the positions of the holes of the racket, after that, the control unit controls the robotic arm to perform the threading wire.

Description

Racket stringing system

The present invention relates to the technology of a racket stringing machine. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a racket stringing system.

At present, whether it is a badminton racket or a tennis racket, the racket stringing is manual threading. There are indeed racket stringing machines. However, the so-called racket stringing machine is only a device that assists the racket stringing master to perform racket stringing, and cannot automatically thread. Whether the racket is threaded or not has a great impact on athletes. Especially the pounds of the racket threading, the pounds are too low, resulting in poor control of the ball, and the power is easy to diverge when hitting the ball. If the pounds are too high, it will result in relative effort when playing far, and the demand for wrist and arm strength is higher.

Also, the quality of the racket is almost entirely determined by the skill of the racket stringing master. The general stringing master needs at least half a year of training time, and after the training is completed, a racket needs at least half an hour to complete the stringing operation. Therefore, in the production of rackets, the output cannot be increased. In addition, users often use the racket for a period of time, and then the thread breaks or the thread becomes loose, so that the racket needs to be re-threaded. at this time, The user must buy a new racket or bring the damaged racket back to the store or ask a professional stringing master to re-thread. Therefore, the problem that the racket needs to be re-threaded after being used for a period of time also often causes trouble and trouble for the racket user.

An object of the present invention is to provide a racket stringing machine that uses a robotic arm and a camera to detect the hole information of the racket and record and automatically thread the robotic arm to achieve mass production and rethreading of the racket.

In view of this, the present invention provides a racket stringing system. The racket stringing system includes a racket fixing frame, a control unit, an image capturing device and a mechanical arm. The racket fixing frame is used to fix the racket frame. The image capturing device is coupled to the control unit. The mechanical arm is coupled to the control unit. When the racket is fixed to the racket holder, the control unit controls the image capturing device to capture images to obtain the hole position information of the racket. After that, the control unit controls the mechanical arm to take out the cable head according to the hole position information of the racket. Perform threading operations.

According to the racket stringing system according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the image capturing device is configured on a robot arm. When the racket frame is fixed to the racket holder, the control unit controls the movement of the robot arm to surround the racket holder and control the image The capturing device captures images to obtain hole position information of the racket frame.

According to the preferred embodiment of the invention The line system further includes a plurality of image capturing devices arranged around the racket fixing frame, and a 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 some image capturing devices to capture images to obtain hole position information of the racket frame.

According to the racket stringing system according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the racket fixing frame at least includes a fixer for fixing the drawn string when the string is drawn. The above racket stringing system also includes a thread puller. During the threading operation, after the robot arm passes the thread through the hole of the racket frame, the robot arm fixes the thread to the thread puller and tightens the thread to a preset pound . In addition, when the threading operation is performed, an initialization procedure is included. Through the initialization procedure, the control unit obtains the racket frame model, racket frame withstand voltage, and hole position information. The above threading operation includes at least a straight threading step, a lateral threading step and a knotting and thread cutting step.

The racket stringing system according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention further includes a second mechanical arm for fixing the positioned string. In addition, the racket stringing system according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention further includes a third robotic arm. In a horizontal threading procedure, the robotic arm cooperates with the third robotic arm and is responsible for threading up and down respectively .

According to the racket stringing system according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the above stringing operation, an error detection and correction mode is simultaneously performed, wherein, during the error detection and correction mode, the image capturing device continuously shoots the racket frame and Back to the control unit, the control unit analyzes the above-mentioned returned image for error detection. When the control unit detects an error, the control unit controls the robot arm to stop and return to the previous There is no error status to correct the error and continue the threading operation.

The spirit of the invention lies in the configuration of a mechanical arm, a control circuit and an image capturing device on the threading machine table. The mechanical arm and the image capturing device are used to detect the hole information of the racket and record it in the control circuit. The control circuit controls the machinery by The arm is automatically threaded to achieve mass production and re-threading of the racket.

In order to make the above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, preferred embodiments are described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are described in detail below.

120: racket holder

122: Fixer

130: control unit

140, 145: image capture device

150, 155: Robotic arm

170: racket frame

122: Fixer

180: racket rack

S700~S760: Each step of racket stringing

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

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

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the vertical threading of the racket frame according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

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

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

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

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the steps of stringing a racket according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In the scope of the embodiments and patent applications, spatially relative terms, such as "below", "below", "below", "above", "upper" and other words, can be used for ease of description herein. In order to describe the corresponding relationship of one element or feature with respect to another element(s) or feature(s) in the figure. Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that in addition to the directions described in the drawings, spatial relative terms are intended to cover different directions in which the device is used or operated. For example, if the device is turned over in the figures, elements or features described as "below" or "below" will be oriented as "above", therefore, the exemplary term "below" may include both above and below position. If the device can be otherwise positioned (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations), the above-mentioned spatial relative terms are used here as the relative spatial description used to make a corresponding interpretation.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a racket stringing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Please refer to FIG. 1, the racket stringing system includes a racket fixing frame 120, a control unit 130, an image capturing device 140 and a robot arm 150. In addition, FIG. 1 also includes a racket frame 170 that is to be threaded. The racket frame has multiple holes for subsequent threading. The above image capturing device 140 is, for example, a camera, and is disposed on the robot arm 150. The racket fixing frame 120, the image capturing device 140, and the robot arm 150 are all coupled to the control unit 130, respectively.

When the racket frame 170 is placed on the racket fixing frame 120, the racket fixing frame 120 will automatically adjust the position to fix the racket frame 170. The control unit 130 controls the image capturing device 140 to perform image capturing, and returns the captured image to the control unit 130. The control unit 130 performs image analysis on the received image to obtain hole position information of the racket frame. After that, the control unit 130 controls the robot arm 150 according to the hole position information of the racket frame and takes out the thread pulling head to start the threading operation. Since the image capturing device 140 is configured on the mechanical arm 150, when the racket frame is fixed to the racket fixing frame, the control unit 130 controls the robotic arm 150 to move around the racket fixing frame 120, and simultaneously controls the image capturing device 140 to capture multiple images. It is transmitted to the control unit 130 to obtain hole position information of the entire racket frame.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the racket fixing frame 120 has a plurality of clips for fixing the racket frame. In addition, the racket fixing frame 120 at least includes a fixer 122, which is used to fix the positioned pull wire when pulling the wire.

The above threading procedure is installed in the control unit 130 with a specific threading software, for example. Before starting the threading operation, the threading software first performs an initialization procedure. The initialization procedure includes at least the control unit 130 determining whether a racket is placed on the machine and determining the integrity of the racket frame (for example, checking whether the racket frame is cracked). After confirming the integrity of the racket frame, the control unit 130 will obtain the hole position information according to the image analysis. The above initialization procedure includes multiple steps. For the flow of each step, please refer to Figure 2. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the steps of an initialization procedure according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The initialization process includes the following steps. S210: determine whether a racket is placed on the machine. S220: Determine the integrity of the racket frame. When the above two judgment results are both positive, step S230 is performed. When any of the above judgment results are negative, it returns to an initialized standby state. In addition, the above step S230: obtain hole location information according to image analysis. Since the above determination steps (S210, S220) and the hole detection step S230 both use the image obtained by the capturing device 140, and the image analysis is performed by the control unit, the determination and detection steps can be performed. Therefore, those with ordinary knowledge in the art should know that the above steps S210, S220, and S230 are performed simultaneously or separately. The sequence of initialization steps can be determined by the designer according to actual hardware or design requirements. In addition, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned initialization step may further include detecting basic information of the racket frame, such as the model, appearance, pressure and integrity of the racket frame. Since the hole position, material, etc. of each racket frame are not necessarily the same, through the initialization procedure, the racket stringing system can be applied to different types of racket frames.

Next, according to the basic information of the racket obtained from the above initialization step, the stringing software will set the parameters. The setting method may be set by the control unit 130 according to the basic information of the racket frame, or may be manually input to the control unit 130. Among them, the set parameters include, for example, the number of wire drawing pounds, the wire material, the number of threading, the number of knotting, the method of knotting, etc. The racket frame is, for example, a badminton frame. However, the present invention can also be applied to tennis rackets, squash rackets, etc. Therefore, the above examples cannot be used to limit the present invention.

Then, the control unit 130 will start the threading process by controlling the wire drawing machine 110, the image capturing device 140, and the robot arm 150. First, the control unit 130 uses the previously obtained hole position information to control the robot arm 150 to grab the thread head, starting from the upright middle of the racket frame 170, and extending the threading to both sides in order to perform the straight threading process. As shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the vertical threading of a racket frame according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. During the threading process, the robot arm 150 can directly pull the thread to the required pounds in accordance with the number of the drawn pounds in the above set parameters. In addition, after the robot arm 150 is pulled to the position, the holder of the racket fixing frame 120 will automatically fix the thread that has been stabilized, so that the robot arm 150 can thread the next hole to complete the straight thread in order. . In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the racket stringing system further includes a thread puller (not shown). During the above threading process, after the robot arm 150 passes the thread out of the hole of the ball frame, the thread is fixed to the pull On the threader, pull the thread to the set pounds.

After the above-mentioned straight threading is completed, the control unit 130 uses the previously obtained hole position information to control the robotic arm 150 to take out the thread head, and start a lateral threading from the hole on the side of the racket frame 170. During the lateral threading process, since the straight line of the racket frame is already threaded at this time, the lateral line needs to be threaded in the lateral direction by crossing the vertical line gap up and down. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the racket stringing system includes, for example, two mechanical arms, which are respectively responsible for threading up and down to accelerate the threading speed. Similarly, during the wire drawing process, the robot arm 150 directly pulls the wire to the required pound number, or through Use a cable puller to complete the required line strength.

After the lateral threading is completed, the control unit 130 will control the robot arm to perform the procedures of binding and knotting and thread trimming. Then, the integrity of the racket is checked through the image capturing device 140. The method of knotting and binding the thread in the embodiment of the present invention is, for example, a general flat knot. However, the method of knotting and binding the wire is not the present invention. Therefore, the present invention does not limit the method of knotting and binding the wire.

The above racket stringing system can use only one string to complete all stringing procedures (straight and horizontal), and finally, knotting and thread cutting. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the racket stringing system may also perform the knotting and thread cutting procedures after the straight stringing procedure is completed, and then use another thread for the lateral stringing procedure. Therefore, the present invention does not limit the number of threads. The racket stringing system can use a single string, a double string or multiple strings to perform the stringing procedure.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1 described above, a mechanical arm 150 is arranged in the racket stringing system, and is matched with the racket fixing frame 120 to perform the stringing and pulling procedures. In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, two or more mechanical arms can be designed in the racket stringing system to perform stringing and fixing at the same time, as shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a racket stringing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Compared with the first picture, a new robot arm 155 is added to the fourth picture. In this embodiment, when the robotic arm 150 performs the threading procedure, the robotic arm 155 is used to perform the fixing work, so in the embodiment of FIG. 3, the racket stringing system may not require the fixture 122.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the automatic racket stringing system may further include a plurality of racket racks 180. After the racket 170 in the racket fixing frame 120 is threaded, the control unit 130 determines whether the racket frame 180 is placed in a new racket frame through the image capturing device 140. When it is determined that the racket frame 180 has a racket frame placed, the automatic racket stringing system continues to take out a new racket frame from the racket frame 180 and place it on the racket holder 120 to continue the automatic threading procedure. By analogy, the control unit 130 will control the robotic arm to sequentially take the racket frame on the racket rack to sequentially perform the automatic threading procedure. In Figure 1, the automatic racket stringing system includes a plurality of racket racks, but those of ordinary skill in the art should know that the present invention does not limit the number of racket racks, the number of racket racks will depend on the actual application and according to hardware restrictions Set by the designer or user.

In addition, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the racket stringing system may also include 4 robot arms, as shown in FIG. 5. Please refer to Fig. 5, the racket stringing system includes four mechanical arms 151, 152, 153 and 154. In the process of performing the vertical threading, the robot arms 151 and 152 start the threading procedure to the left, for example, from the upright middle. At the same time, the robot arms 153 and 154 start the threading procedure from the upright middle to the right side, for example. Similarly, when threading in the lateral direction, the four robot arms 151, 152, 153, and 154 can also be carried out at the same time to accelerate the speed of threading and pulling the thread. It can be known from the above embodiments in FIGS. 4 and 5 that the racket stringing system disclosed in the present invention can be configured with one to four robot arms. Therefore, those with ordinary knowledge in the art can know that the present invention does not limit the number of robotic arms used, and product designers can decide the machine according to the actual budget and hardware and software limitations The number of mechanical arms, the system can include 1 to multiple mechanical arms. In addition, in the racket stringing system proposed by the present invention, the number of fixtures can also be determined according to the actual hardware design, for example, directly replaced by a mechanical arm or using multiple fixtures, so the present invention does not limit the fixation The number of devices.

In the above embodiment, the image capturing device 140 is configured on the robot arm 150. In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the image capturing device 140 can also be arranged at a fixed position, as shown in FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a racket stringing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Please refer to FIG. 6 to add an image capturing device 145. In this embodiment, the original image capturing device 140 is not provided in the robot arm 150. In addition, as can be seen from the embodiments in FIG. 1 and FIG. 6, the position of the image capturing device can be directly arranged on the robot arm in a movable manner to detect the precise hole position. At the same time, the position of the image capturing device can also be fixed. Therefore, those of ordinary skill in the art should know that the present invention does not limit the number and placement of image capturing devices. When the number of image capturing devices in the system is large, the image data returned to the control unit 130 will also increase. Although the control unit 130 increases the amount of calculation, the control unit 130 can better grasp the actual working state and the position of the hole For more precise threading procedures.

The above image capturing device can continuously shoot the racket frame and send it back to the control unit 130 during the entire threading and pulling operation. During the threading process, the control unit 130 analyzes the returned image for error detection. When the control unit 130 detects an error At that time, it will immediately stop operating and return to the state where no error has occurred before. After correcting the error, the system will continue to start threading and pulling.

Described by the above embodiment, the embodiment of the present invention can be summarized as a racket stringing process, please refer to Figure 7, including the following steps:

Step S700: Start the racket stringing step.

Step S710: an initialization procedure, the detailed steps of which are shown in FIG. 2 above, for example. Based on the hole location information, the control unit 130 may also determine the number of holes that are required to complete the vertical threading, and also determine the number of holes to be horizontally threaded.

Step S720: Perform a straight threading procedure. Among them, the method of straight threading is as described in the related description of FIG. 3 above. In addition, in the straight threading procedure, when the robot arm 150 finishes threading to the first hole, the control unit 130 will count to 1, and then, after the robot arm 150 finishes threading to the second hole, the control unit 130 will count To 2. By analogy, when the control unit 130 counts the preset number of holes in the straight direction preset in step S710, it is determined that the straight threading procedure is completed.

Step S730: Perform a lateral threading procedure. Among them, the method of lateral threading has been described in detail in the embodiment of FIG. 1, so it will not be repeated here. In the lateral threading procedure, when the robotic arm 150 completes the threading to the lateral hole once, the control unit 130 will also increase the count times by 1 until the number of holes that have been threaded reaches the preset lateral preset hole number, then the lateral threading is completed program of.

Step S740: Perform the process of binding and knotting and thread trimming sequence.

Step S750: It is judged whether there is a racket frame to be threaded on the racket rack 180. If it is determined to be positive, step S760 is performed, and then step S710 is returned to. If the judgment is negative, step S770 is performed.

Step S760: The mechanical arm 150 places the racket frame on the racket rack 180 on the racket fixing rack 120.

Step S770: End the racket stringing step.

The present invention does not limit the execution order of the above steps. The system designer can adjust the order of the above steps, delete any one of the above steps, or add any one of the steps according to the user's preference or hardware limitation. For example, in the present invention, the horizontal threading may be performed first, and then the vertical threading may be performed, and the above step S720 and step S730 may be eliminated. Furthermore, after the straight threading procedure in step S720, the present invention can also perform the first step of binding and knotting and thread trimming, and then lateral threading to add a step of thread binding and thread trimming. Therefore, the racket stringing step proposed by the present invention is not limited to the priority order of the above steps.

The above threading procedure is installed in the control unit 130 with a specific threading software, for example. The threading software is artificial intelligence, for example, and has an automatic learning function. When the threading error occurs, in addition to the software controlling the robot's reverse operation to return to the previous step, the error occurrence will also be recorded. In this way, in the next threading situation, the operation of the robot arm can be fine-tuned by artificial intelligence. If an error occurs again, recording and fine-tuning can be performed again. Therefore, with artificial intelligence, it can be used with the number of runs The increase makes the threading operation more accurate and the error rate lower. In addition, after the threading procedure, this threading software will also record the type of racket frame and the corresponding user settings to plan the user's preference for threading (such as knotting method, pounds for threading, etc.). Therefore, after multiple threading procedures, the threading software with artificial intelligence can directly make corresponding settings directly from the past records, and complete a racket that is satisfactory to the user.

It can be seen from the above embodiments that the spirit of the present invention is to configure a robotic arm, a control unit and an image capturing device on the stringing machine table. The robotic arm and the image capturing device are used to detect the hole information of the racket and record it in the control circuit. The control circuit controls the mechanical arm to perform automatic threading to replace the current manual and semi-automatic racket stringing technology. Therefore, the design principle of the present invention is to fix the racket and apply one or more image capturing devices to detect the position of the hole to measure the correct position of the hole of the racket, and at the same time, use the control software to operate the mechanical device such as a machine Arms, robots, etc. do the action of threading leads automatically. After the mechanical device cooperates with the racket hole position detection mechanism and then the control unit and software, it is like a robotic hand with eyes and brain to do the work of needle threading and lead to mass production and rethreading of the racket.

The specific embodiments proposed in the detailed description of the preferred embodiments are only used to facilitate the description of the technical content of the present invention, rather than limiting the present invention to the above embodiments in a narrow sense, without exceeding the spirit of the present invention and applying for patents below The scope and implementation of various changes are within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention should be regarded as The profit scope shall prevail.

120: racket holder

122: Fixer

130: control unit

140: Image capture device

150: Robotic arm

170: racket frame

122: Fixer

180: racket rack

Claims (10)

A racket stringing system includes: a racket fixing frame for fixing a racket frame; a control unit; an image capturing device coupled to the control unit; and a mechanical arm coupled to the control unit, wherein, when the When the racket frame is fixed to the racket fixing frame, the control unit controls the image capturing device to perform image capturing to obtain hole position information of the racket frame. After that, the control unit controls the hole position information of the racket frame. The mechanical arm takes out the pulling head for threading operation, wherein the racket fixing frame includes at least a fixture for fixing the positioned pulling line when pulling the string, wherein the racket stringing system further includes a pulling In the above threading operation, after the robot arm passes the thread out of the hole of the racket frame, the robot arm fixes the thread to the thread puller and tightens the thread to a preset pound. The racket stringing system as described in item 1 of the patent application scope further includes: a racket rack, which is arranged on one side of the robot arm and is used to place a racket frame to be threaded, wherein the control unit determines by the image capturing device Whether the racket frame is equipped with the racket frame, when the judgment is affirmative, the control unit controls the mechanical arm to place the racket frame on the racket fixing frame. The racket stringing system as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the image capture device is configured on the robot arm, and when the racket frame is fixed to the racket holder, the control unit controls the movement of the robot arm around the A racket fixing frame, and control the image capturing device to capture images to obtain hole position information of the racket frame. The racket stringing system as described in item 1 of the patent application scope includes a plurality of image capturing devices arranged around the racket fixing frame. The image capturing devices are coupled to the control unit. When the frame is fixed to the racket fixing frame, the control unit controls the image capturing devices to capture images to obtain hole position information of the racket frame. The racket stringing system as described in item 1 of the patent application scope includes an initialization procedure during the stringing operation, and the control unit obtains information on the model of the racket frame, the pressure of the racket frame, and the hole position through the initialization procedure. The racket stringing system as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the above stringing operation includes at least a straight stringing step, a lateral stringing step and a knotting and trimming step. The racket stringing system as described in item 1 of the patent application scope further includes a second mechanical arm to fix the positioned string. The racket stringing system as described in item 1 of the scope of the patent application further includes a third robotic arm. In a horizontal stringing procedure, the robotic arm cooperates with the third robotic arm and is responsible for the upward and downward movements. Thread. The racket stringing system as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the racket frame is a badminton racket frame. As described in item 1 of the patent application scope, the racket stringing system performs an error detection and correction mode at the same time during the above-mentioned stringing operation, wherein, during the error detection and correction mode, the image capture device continuously shoots the The racket frame is transmitted back to the control unit. The control unit analyzes the returned image for error detection. When the control unit detects an error, the control unit controls the robot arm to stop. And return to the previous state where no error has occurred, to correct the error and continue the threading operation.

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