Skip to main content

Do robots take jobs?

Get the Facts
ARM Institute
  • About
    • Why the ARM Institute
    • Who We Help
    • Team
    • Careers
    • Locations & Facilities
  • Our Work
    • Overview
    • Program Management
    • Workforce Development
    • Technology Development
    • Membership & Ecosystem Creation
  • Projects
    • All Projects
    • Project Calls
  • News & Events
  • Membership
  • Contact
  • RoboticsCareer.org
  • Member Login

Do robots take jobs?

Get the Facts
ARM Institute
  • RoboticsCareer.org
  • Member Login
  • About
    • Why the ARM Institute
    • Who We Help
    • Team
    • Careers
    • Locations & Facilities
  • Our Work
    • Overview
    • Program Management
    • Workforce Development
    • Technology Development
    • Membership & Ecosystem Creation
  • Projects
    • All Projects
    • Project Calls
  • News & Events
  • Membership
  • Contact

Home › Projects › Robotic Assistant for Repurposable Fabric Fusing Operations

Robotic Assistant for Repurposable Fabric Fusing Operations

Background

The U.S. continues to lose apparel manufacturing to international suppliers who offer lower wage costs; however, the apparel industry is ripe for automation. Current processes see human workers touching each piece of fabric and manually picking and placing. This team is working towards an automated, low-cost solution.

Objective

Current processes rely on manual labor that is tedious, uncomfortable, and slow, leading to high employee turnover. Additionally, manufacturers cannot afford costly, one-off robotic solutions. This project team seeks to catalyze an automated solution that minimizes custom hardware.

Technical Approach

This project team developed an end effector that can pick and place fabric and interlining piece parts and fabric bolts onto the fusing machine conveyor. The team developed open source software modules that can program robots from multiple vendors and leverage collaborative robots that can be easily positioned.

Participants

Lead: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Partners: Interface Technologies, Hickey Freeman

Project Type

Technology

Inspection

Year Completed

2021

Project Team

Interface Technologies

Hickey Freeman

Principle Investigator

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

ARM Institute

The ARM Institute is a Manufacturing Innovation Institute (MII) funded by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and is part of the Manufacturing USA® network.

Copyright © 2023 Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy

Contact Info

Address

Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute

Mill 19 A 4501 Lytle St., Suite 200
Pittsburgh, PA 15207 USA

Phone

412-785-0444

Fax

412-785-0229

Proud Partner

Social Media

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Website by Imagebox