AUTOMATED NAIL SHAPING OR MODIFICATION

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a robotic apparatus and methods for automatic nail shaping or modification on natural or artificial fingernails or toenails.

Description

Claims

1. A system comprising: a placement area configured for a user to place at least one digit having a nail;a motion platform adjacent the placement area;an end effector movably connected to the motion platform and positioned near the placement area, the end effector comprising one or more tools for nail shaping;one or more sensors near the designated placement area and configured for scanning the nail of the user to generate a sensor representation for the nail;an artificial intelligence (AI) model trained for receiving as input the sensor representation of the nail and for inscribing a selected nail shape onto the sensor representation, the inscribed selected nail shape on the sensor representation comprising an output of the AI model; anda path planning model configured to receive the output of the AI model and to plan a path of movement for the end effector to shape the nail based on the output of the AI model, the end effector configured to move on the motion platform into position based on the planned path for applying the one or more tools to the nail to shape the nail.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more cameras.

3. The system of claims 1 or 2, wherein the one or more sensors comprise a 3D sensor suite.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein 3D sensor suite comprises one or more cameras capable of generating a 3D spatial point cloud.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the sensor representation comprises one or more images of the nail to be shaped, and wherein the 3D spatial point cloud is generated based on the one or more images, which provides a representative surface of the nail, wherein the path is planned based on the representative surface generated by the cameras to provide the selected nail shape.

6. The system of claims 1-5, wherein the selected nail shape is selected by the user.

7. The system of claims 1-6, wherein the one or more tools of the end effector comprise a first tool and a second tool, and wherein a drive motor on the end effector is configured to move the first tool away from the nail following use and to move the second tool into position to perform further shaping of the nail.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the end effector comprises at least a third tool, and wherein the drive motor on the end effector is configured to move the third tool into position for modifying the nail.

9. The system of claims 1-6, wherein the system is configured to move the end effector away from the placement area to perform a tool replacement to remove a first tool of the one or more tools and replace it with a second tool of the one or more tools, wherein the second tool is moved back into position at the placement area for additional nail shaping.

10. The system of claims 1-6, wherein each of the one or more tools is connected to a nail shaping subassembly that is replaceable to attach a different nail shaping subassembly to the end effector to provide a different tool.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein each nail shaping subassembly comprises a drive motor.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein each nail shaping subassembly comprises a kinematic mount interface.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the nail shaping subassembly comprises a drive motor and a tool support holding two or more tools, and wherein the drive motor is configured to move the tools to position each tool at the nail for performing a specific nail shaping procedure.

14. The system of claims 1-13, wherein the one or more tools comprise different tools for performing different nail shaping tasks.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more tools are selected from a group consisting of: an nail file, a nail clipper, a nail buffer, a cuticle trimmer, a cuticle oil depositer, and a nail cleanser.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more tools comprise nail shaping tools each having variable grit surfaces, and wherein different ones of the tools are selected based on a level of grit needed to perform a specific nail shaping procedure.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein at least one of the tools is configured to be positioned at an end of the nail for shaping an edge of the nail.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein at least one of the tools is configured to be positioned above the nail for modifying a top surface of the nail.

19. The system of claims 1-18, comprising a frame having a top support and side supports, the frame having the one or more sensors mounted to it by sensor supports.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the one or more sensors comprise two cameras, each mounted on either side of the frame, the cameras having lens supports aimed at the placement area.

21. The system of claims 1-20, wherein the motion platform is mounted on a base platform by motion platform supports.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein at least one z-axis track is mounted to the motion platform.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein an x-axis track is moveably mounted to the z-axis track, the x-axis track designed to slide back and further along a z axis to move the end effector forward and backward relative to the nail.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the x-axis track is configured to allow the end effector to slide from side to side along the motion platform to move the end effector from side to side relative to the nail.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein a y-axis track is moveably mounted to the x-axis track, the y-axis track designed to move the end effector up and down relative to the nail.

26. The system of claims 1-25, wherein the placement area comprises a restraint for holding the digit in place during the shaping of the nail.

27. The system of claims 1-26, wherein the placement area comprises a resting support for resting a hand of a user during nail shaping.

28. The system of claims 1-27, wherein the end effector is moveable along at least three motion axes for shaping of the nail.

29. The system of claims 1-28, wherein the system is a robotic system for automated shaping of the nail of the user without requiring user input during the shaping.

30. The system of claims 1-29, wherein the end effector is moveable for replacing the one or more tools for nail shaping with one or more tools for nail polishing following the nail shaping, wherein the system moves the end effector to polish the nail.

31. A method comprising: receiving, at a designated placement area, at least one digit of the user having a nail;scanning the nail of the user with one or more sensors to generate at least one sensor representation of the nail;inputting, into an artificial intelligence (AI) model, the sensor representation of the nail, the AI model inscribing the selected nail shape onto the sensor representation as an output;planning, based on the output of the AI model, a path for shaping of the nail; andmoving, based on the planned path, an end effector having one or more tools into position for applying the one or more tools to the nail for shaping of the nail.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising receiving, at a user interface, a selection by a user of a nail shape or a nail length.

33. The method of claims 31-32, wherein the one or more tools of the end effector comprise a first tool and a second tool, and further comprising moving, based on the planned path, the end effector with a second tool into position for applying the second tool to the nail for nail shaping.

34. The method of claims 33, further comprising moving, based on the planned path, the end effector with a third tool into position for applying the third tool to the nail for polishing the nail.

35. The method of claims 33, further comprising moving the first tool away from the nail following use and moving the second tool into position to perform further shaping of the nail.

36. The method of claims 31-35, further comprising generating a 3D spatial point cloud with based on the at least one image of the nail to be shaped, which provides a representative surface of the nail, wherein the path is planned based on the representative surface generated to get the desired shape.

37. The method of claims 31-36, further comprising generating a 3D spatial point claim with a 3D sensor suite.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the sensor representation comprises one or more images of the nail to be shaped, and wherein the 3D spatial point cloud is generated based on the one or more images, which provides a representative surface of the nail, and further comprising planning the path based on the representative surface generated by the cameras to provide the selected nail shape.

39. The method of claims 31-38, further comprising moving the end effector away from the placement area to perform a tool replacement to remove a first tool of the one or more tools and replace it with a second tool of the one or more tools, wherein the second tool is moved back into position at the placement area for additional nail shaping.

40. The method of claims 31-39, wherein the one or more tools comprise different tools for performing different nail shaping tasks, wherein the one or more tools are selected from a group consisting of: an nail file, a nail clipper, a nail buffer, a cuticle trimmer, a cuticle oil depositer, and a nail cleanser.

41. The method of claim 31-40, wherein the one or more tools comprise nail shaping tools each having variable grit surfaces, and further comprising selecting tools based on a level of grit needed to perform a specific nail shaping procedure.

42. The system of claims 31-41, further comprising moving the end effector along at least three motion axes for shaping of the nail.