Implementation of 5-DOF apparatus used for adhesive spray and roughing of shoe upper

In shoe manufacturing, in order to attach the upper with the corresponding sole, it is necessary to ‘scrape’ certain material off the upper surface so that the glue can penetrate the leather and adhere; an operation called ‘roughing’. This paper presents the implementation of an innovative apparatus for roughing and adhesive spray of a shoe upper. The accuracy needed to follow the complex 3D (3 dimensional) paths and require a considerable degree of flexibility. In order to meet these server requirements, we have designed a 5-DOF (degree of freedom) apparatus. Firstly, the work trajectory on shoe sole was obtained in the camera vision system with structured light. And it was discreted to obtain the position and normal vector of the discrete point. Then we derive the input of the motors by kinematics analysis from the normal vector. Thus, the normal vector of the tool and the discrete point are coincidence. At the moment, the position of the tool is determined. Finally, the measurement of the translation is derived from the kinematics using the difference between the current position of the discrete point and the tool. And the discrete point and the work point will match by inputting the measurement to the translation mechanism. Then we use the method mentioned above to implement the spray and roughing of shoe upper.